Leamington

Leamington, a fashionable watering-place of Warwickshire, is beautifully situated on the Leam, a tributary of the Avon, 2 miles NE. of Warwick. It is wholly of modern growth, having become important only since the rediscovery of its mineral waters in 1784. They are saline, sulphureous, and chalybeate; and the watering-season lasts from October till May. The town, too, stands in the centre of a good hunting-country. Among its buildings are the Pump-room (1868), the Warneford Hospital (1832), assembly-rooms (1813), music-hall (1821), the tennis-court (1847), the college (1844), the new municipal offices, and the fine old parish church. The manufacture of cooking-ranges is an important industry. Visited by the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria in 1830, Leamington eight years later received the name of 'Royal Leamington Spa.' It was incorporated in 1875, and since 1885 has united with Warwick to return one member to parliament. Pop. (1811) 543; (1851) 15,692; (1891) 26,930. See F. W. Smith's Leamington Waters (1884).