Warwickshire

ally rising hills of which its sister town of Warwick, distant but two miles from it, is the centre. The oldest portion of t

planned streets and avenues, lies on the northern side of the river, and has its origin from the

beautiful trees, all of which, from their variety, are seldom leafless at one and the same time. The modern town at the time of its inception was far

ON WY

t impart to the town an almost garden–like aspect. Notwithstanding, however, the fact that in the byroads, streets, and avenues of the residential quarters, more especially of Milverton and Lillington, grass plats separate the footpaths from the road, adding materially to the beauty and distinction of the place, the business qu

ghteenth century it was merely an obscure village, and in the year 1801 the populati

River Leam, and once belonged to the priors of Kenilworth. In modern days it has become known as Leamington Spa, the l

ef attraction in antiquity, Leamington has its chief interest as a modern and fashionable health resort. It is wrong, however,

s well–wooded for the greater part of its course on both banks. There are many Celtic river names to be met with in Warwickshire, and generally these survi

down as containing two hides, or about two hundred acres of land, the value of which was ￡4. There is also a mention of two mills situated on the stream within its boundaries. Turch

eamington, were seized, and the latter was given to the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. After a few years the possession of it passed to Geoffrey de Clinton, and was by him granted to Gilbert Nutricius of Warwick and his heirs, who held it by the service of half a knight's fee. For some reason, however, it speedily reverted to the De Clintons, and Geoffrey de Clinton, son of the original owner, gave it to

ngs, and others, may be traced the fact that the town in the first years of the nineteenth century began to be a place of importance and fashion. Long before then Camden, Speed, and Dugdale had mentioned prominently the Leamington Waters; and Fuller in 1662, referring to the same subject, quaintly observes, "At Leamington, two miles from

cceeded by many others, including Doctors Allen, Short, Johnson, Kerr, Kirwan, Middleton, and Loudon. It was Dr. Allen who first settled in the place, and Mr. William Abbotts, who, in 1786, sunk the second well and erected and op

forts of Dr. Abbotts did much to popularise the place. In his endeavour to spread abroad the fame of the place, he was ably seconded by his friend

ortance, size, and prosperity

Abbotts ha

of laud

e been poor

in for

the town's prosperity, and on the tomb of Satchwell may be traced

unassum

where health and

engthened life

, useful, v

avour, and the discovery of other wells up till the year 1819 served to provide ample accommoda

cted much the same classes of invalids and fashionable folk as were drawn to its more famous Somersetshire prototype

rding to one authority, it was little more than a small sequestered village, to which the mail–coaches came no nearer than Warwick, and

ed by a short stay at Leamington, then a small village consisting only of a few thatched houses-not one of them tiled or slated; the Bowling Green being the only one where very moderate accommodation c

e of the waters, and from that time the place may be considered to have been firmly established in public favour. Quoting from a contemporary writer, "where but a few years earlier cattle grazed undisturbedly, yellow corn wave

pany with her mother the Duchess of Kent; and later John Ruskin, who testified to the benefit derived from a six weeks' cou

ions; whilst hunting people regard the place as an almost unequalled sporting district, from the circumstance that a fashionable life can be enjoyed there in conjunction with hunting six days a

ich is greatly added to by the presence of the River Leam skirting them along the southern boundary. This site was rented to trustees for a period of two thousand years at a pepper–corn rent (if demanded) by the late Mr. Edward Willes, of

same side of the river and along its western circuit has been lai

ly laid out with ornamental flower–beds and winding paths; whilst on the side next to the parade is the famous Linden Avenue, thr

if one excepts the reconstructed and much altered Pump Room,

DASSETT

s, with the exception of the Town

erest for lovers of Dickens from the fact that here the novelist laid the scene of the first meeting between Edith Granger and Mr. Carker in Dombey and Son. Scarcely a more

rs into the dining–room, set her at the large table, which she cleared, jumping over the heads of his assembled friends, and then continued her

tion, yet owes also not a little to the intelligence and foresight of those responsible for its development, who may be said to have coaxed rather than