Betty is a “foreigner”: she came to live in Leamington at the age of 10, and found it all very different from where she had grown up. She gives her impressions of Bath Place School in 1938, dancing at the Palais in the 40s, and working as a typist at Ford’s. 52 mins. 54MB mp3 … Read more
Dorothy started working life in service, then worked at the Midland Counties Home for Incurables. She recounts what it was like to work there. 41 mins. 43MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. dorothy-marlow
Charles recounts memories of a boyhood in wartime – the Coventry Blitz, the street parties at the end of the War and for the Coronation, life at Sabin’s Bakery, and Saturday cinema in the 1950s. 50 mins. 53MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. charles-sabin
Kevin talks about a life in music, from Rentons Rare Records to playing home-made instruments (watering can, anyone?) on TV’s Blue Peter and in many local schools. 31 mins. 33MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. kevin-renton
Bob reminisces with LHG member Colin Jennings about their early years in Windsor Street in the 1940s. 13 mins. 14MB mp3 file. This recording was made as part of the “History @ Bath Place” project, 2007-9. bob-ross
Can you identify what the Leamington ladies listed below might have in common? Mrs Wackrill Archery Rd Mrs A Hill Northumberland Rd Mrs Hassall 47 Avenue Rd Mrs Nutter 9 Church St Mrs Davies 50 Greatheed Rd Mrs Inge Mrs Dykes 12 Milverton Crescent Mrs Thornton 48 Warwick Rd Mrs Hellis 16 Victoria Rd The … Read more
The Palais de Danse was opened on Spencer Street in 1926 and called the Bath Assembly Hall. It was designed by Birmingham architect Horace Bradley for a local entrepreneur, Edith Dowding, who was a partner in the Bath Hotel. The 1920s saw the beginning of a dance craze in Britain and many palaises were built … Read more
The site for the 1831 Town Hall is land at the corner of High Street and Althorpe Street. It was assembled over a long period and in a rather complicated way. The first Town Hall was built by the Leamington Commissioners who had been appointed under the provisions of an 1825 Act of Parliament. They … Read more
Herbert Edward Cox, was born in Coventry in 1870, the fifth of seven children born to James and Sarah Cox of Stoney Stanton Road. He attended the Grammar School, and after the death of his father in 1887, still living in the family home, he trained to paint at the Municipal School of Art in … Read more
(compiled from extracts from ‘living memory’ interviews conducted 2006/2007) Recollections 1920’s-1930’s Over a lifespan of 120 years, there was little structural change in the houses on Althorpe Street from their being built in the mid 1830’s to being demolished in the early1950’s. The street was basically two long rows of terraced houses broken up by … Read more
Beginnings In 1784 Benjamin Satchwell and William Abbotts discovered a spring in Bath Lane in the hamlet of Leamington Priors, and 2 years later opened Abbotts Original Baths. At this time, much of the hamlet and surrounding land was owned by a handful of wealthy families, including the Wise family. In 1783 Bath Lane (not … Read more
Leamington has lost, over the last hundred years or so, three towers. None of these has been of any great architectural merit, although they all have had a measure of curiosity value. The earliest is the so called ‘Pepper pot chapel’, although the Milverton Chapel was its formal title. The chapel, as it was not … Read more
Contact the Secretary, Margaret Rushton: secretary@leamingtonhistory.co.uk
September 9, 2026
August 12, 2026
August 8, 2026