Old Postcards of Royal Leamington Spa

Leamington Spa - formerly known as Leamington Priors - lies about a dozen miles the north of Stratford-upon-Avon and is now just about joined to Warwick. The town grew around the saline springs and the Royal Pump Room and Baths, which opened in 1814. A treatment at the baths was reputed to be very beneficial and claimed to cure many disorders - gout, rheumatism, stiffness of the joints etc - and the spa water was drunk as a laxative. There are many beautiful old buildings in the town, which has a wide, main shopping street - the Parade - and some well maintained gardens around the river Leam. I was born and brought up near Leamington, and lived there as a child during the war (World War 2 that is !), and still visit quite often. Charles Dickens was a frequent visitor and set a scene in "Dombey and Son" in Leamington.