Rambling round Regency and parading through parks.

We walked into town to get to the Tourist Information for opening to find some walking tours. We then decided to have an hour looking round the small but informative museum of The history of Leamington and the art gallery. We then headed back to the boat as we were having visitors over lunch time on their way back north. It was great to see Richard and Ann and hear their news that they may be purchasing a narrow boat to live on for a while and cruise later to coincide with a new job. We will watch how it all goes.

After they had left us and headed off we decided to go back into town and complete our sight seeing of the town.

This is a little like Bath in that there is a Circus and a Crescent. This is Lansdowne Circus that was built about 1835 to 1838 and is semi detatched buildings with the Regency facades that are all over Leamington. You can see the real brick building behind the stucco facade.

This is Lansdown Crescent built around the same time as the Circus. When there was a downturn in the building boom in the area William Thomas emigrated to Canada and became one of the most celebrated of their architects for public buildings in Quebec. More Regency iron work.

In the bad old days this superb Regency building was due to be demolished but thankfully it was spared and makes a magnificent example of the genre. One thing that we wondered was how did all the railings in Leamington survive WWII where many places seemed to loose all thier rails?

The growth of Leamington was due to the health qualities of the waters and the treatments in the water. Part of this regime included diet and exercise. That meant that it was important for the lay out of the new town to have plenty of open spaces so that people could promenade about the place. It also helps to explain the wide boulevards. Jephson Gardens opened in 1846 and connected with several other open spaces to make an extensive walk along the River Leam. The land was donated by Edward Willes but named after the famous Doctor Jephson who promoted the 'cure'. There is a huge variety of trees in the park which give it a very special feel.

Mill bridge was opened in 1903 designed by William de Normanville who was the Borough Surveyor and esigned many of the parks and public buildings and spaces for the town. The weir was built at the same time to create a boating lake and there was also a turbine to generate electricity

Edward Willes was celebrated, but only after his death, but only after his death, by the erection of this needle in the main walk of the park.

How ever not only did Doctor Jephson have the park named after him but he was immortalised by having this this Corinthian Temple built to house a statue of him.

From Mill Bridge the view of All Saints Church reminds me of a very Parisian type scene. It was mainly designed to by the Vicar John Craig between 1843 to 1869 and later by Sir Arthur Blomfield the tower and western extension in 1900 to 1902. The Rose window that can be seen was based on one in Rouen.

These are the oldest surviving buildings in Leamington. To me it shows how young the place really is, only developing in the early 19th Century. These buildings date back to around 200 years earlier.

These assembly Rooms date from 1926 and are still in use. There are no baths now still in use. The first place to take the waters was outside the All Saints Church that was called Lord Aylesford's Well. This was not developed as he wanted to keep it available for all. It wasn't until 1786 after a well had been discoverd on the Land of William Abbott that a commercial bath was built just up the street on the south side. Bath Street was named after all the Bath Houses along it's length. The Royal Pump Rooms were the last establishment were treatments where still available. This was mainly physiotherapy treatments but was lost in the early 1990's

The town went into a decline when railways were able to move people away and sea bathing became the latest water treatment. Still the Royal Leamington Spa name was bestowed by Queen Victoria who visited twice, once whilst still a Princess. In fact one of the first tasks she undertook as Queen was to confer the 'Royal' name to the town. I am told by my wife that there is a very good selection of national shops and little independant stores too. The town is known for it's sporting history with one of the few Real Tennis clubs, the first Lawn Tennis Club. Part of the attraction in the 'golden age' was that it was the centre of the hunting, shooting and fishing set. Randolph Turpin was the World middleweight boxing champion in 1951 and became a national hero. The town's proximity to Warwick also helped. Every year in August the National Bowls Championships are held in the town to this day. It is well worth a visit to check the place out in my opinion.