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An elegant, spacious town on the River Leam, Leamington Spa owes it's fame to the bubbling waters of a mineral spring. These were first noted as long ago as 1586, but it was two centuries before anyone realised their potential. In 1786 William Abbots opened one hot and one cold bath for a few invalids. Soon more baths were constructed, more wells were opened, including Aylesford Well, opened by the 5th. Earl of Aylesford in 1813, and by 1814 a Pump Room had been built, along with Assembly Rooms and Public Baths, all on a magnificent scale. The rise from the village of Lemynton Priors to Royal Leamington Spa took little more than a dozen years. By the middle of the 19th. century, the town had become very prosperous; thanks largely to Dr. Jephson, a local practitioner, who used the waters to great effect on his patients. It was granted the 'Royal' prefix, by Queen Victoria after a visit in 1838. A settlement has existed on the south bank of the River Leam, as early as the 7th. Century. The first recorded landowner was Turchill, the last Saxon Earl of Warwick, who owned "a farm on the bank of the River Leam". However, a settlement existed beside the river long before the Saxon period, as traces of prehistoric man found during the sinking of boreholes for Mineral Springs proved. The Doomsday Book of 1086 records details of 'Lamintone'. This was owned from 1166 to 1539 by the Priors of Kenilworth, hence the old name of Lemynton Priors. In 1663 there existed only 46 dwellings, and right up to 1800 there were still no more than 50, with a population of 300 souls. By 1901 the population had increased to 27,000 with an appropriate increase in houses. |
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