Leamington Spa, Warwickshire - Adelaide Bridge - Dennis postcard 1908

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Adelaide Bride, Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
• Publisher:  ETW Dennis
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  Edward VII half d. light green
• Postmark(s):  Leamington Spa July 29 1908 cds
• Sent to:  Mrs Johnson, 1 Keats Villas, Aynaw Road, Kendal
• Notes / condition:  has a couple of bumps and wear at edges, probably mainly due to postal use but no major faults

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington ⁱ/'l?m??t?n/ or Leam /'l?m/ colloquially, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe around 1797.^[1] During the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England.^[2] It is named after the River Leam which flows through the town.

The town comprises six electoral wards; Brunswick, Milverton, Manor, Crown, Clarendon and Willes. The total population for those wards in 2011 was 49,491.^[3]

Formerly known as Leamington Priors, Leamington began to develop as a town at the start of the 19th century. It was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Lamintone. For 400 years, the settlement was under the control of Kenilworth Priory, from which the older suffix derived.^[4] Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Leman-tun or Lemen-tun = ""farm on the River Leam"".^[5] The spa waters had been known in Roman times and their rediscovery in 1784 by William Abbotts and Benjamin Satchwell, led to their commercialisation.^{[4][not in citation given]}

Early development of the old town centre was on the southern bank of the River Leam. Later builders began concentrating the town's expansion on the land north of the river, resulting in the Georgian centre of New Town with the Leam flowing between the two.^{[citation needed]} In 1767 Parliament passed an Act, proposed by Edward Willes, a local landowner, for dividing and enclosing the open and common land on the south and west of the River Leam.^[6] Following a survey of the area by John Tomlinson in 1768, the land was estimated to be 990 acres (4.0 km²) and was subsequently divided, and new public roads were laid out.^[6] After the division on the south of the river most of the land east of the village was owned by the Willes family and to the west by Matthew Wise. To the north of the river most of the land was owned by the Willes family, the Earl of Warwick, and Bertie Greatheed.^[6] The main landholders of the village and adjacent land were the Earl of Aylesford, and a number of smaller landowners.^[6] In the following decades some of the land was sold.^[6] By 1901, the population of Leamington had grown from a few hundred to nearly 27,000.^[7]

With the spread of the town's popularity, and the granting with a 'Royal' prefix in 1838 by Queen Victoria, 'Leamington Priors' was renamed 'Royal Leamington Spa'. Queen Victoria had visited the town as a Princess in 1830 and as Queen in 1858.^[4] A statue of Queen Victoria was almost destroyed by a German bomb during World War II, and was moved one inch on its plinth by the blast. The statue was not returned to its original position, and the incident is recorded on a plaque on its plinth.

The function of the Royal Pump Rooms changed several times over the following years. While retaining its assembly rooms and medical facilities, around 1863 it was extended to include a Turkish bath and swimming pool, in 1875 the Royal Pump Room Gardens were opened to the public, and in 1890 a further swimming pool was added. The economy of Leamington decreased towards the end of the 19th century following the decline in popularity of spa towns, and it became a popular place of residence for retired people and for members of the middle-class who relocated from Coventry and Birmingham, and wealthy residents led to the development of Leamington as a popular place for shopping.^[7] In 1997, the owners of the building, the district council, closed the facility for redevelopment, reopening it in 1999 as a culture centre. It now contains Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum, a library, a tourist information centre, refurbished assembly rooms and a cafe.^[8] Spa water can still be sampled outside the building.

Leamington is closely associated with the founding of lawn tennis. The first tennis club in the world was formed in 1872 by Major Henry Gem and Augurio Pereira who had started playing tennis in the garden of Pereira.^[9] It was located just behind the former Manor House Hotel and the modern rules of lawn tennis were drawn up in 1874 in Leamington Tennis Club.

During the Second World War, Leamington was home to the Free Czechoslovak Army; a memorial in the Jephson Gardens commemorates the bravery of Czechoslovak parachutists from Warwickshire.

type=printed

city/ region=leamington spa

period=pre-1914

postage condition=posted

number of items=single

size=standard (140x89 mm)