This is the eighth in a series of glimpses into my new book Paranormal Warwickshire which will be published by Amberley Publishing on 15th November 2020.
Today we visit Leamington Spa, which in the 18th and 19th centuries became a fashionable Regency health spa. But it traces its origins back to the Domesday Book when it was a hamlet called Lamintone. In medieval times it was owned by Kenilworth Priory.
Leamington gained its status as a spa town following the discovery of mineral springs here : the first one being discovered in the early 1700s by the 4th Earl of Aylesford. He made the spring water available to all, free of charge. When a gentleman by the name of William Abbotts discovered a second mineral spring on his land in 1784, he set up a bath house called Abbott’s Bath. But it was his friend Benjamin Satchwell who changed everything. He wrote a glowing account about the healing properties of his friend’s well. His account was published and circulated through London society: and soon, wealthy and influential visitors began to head for Leamington in the Prince Regent stagecoach.
When the star of the gossip columns, the Duchess of Gordon, arrived in 1808, the town’s fashionable status was sealed.
Leamington also drew its fame from the presence of an illustrious medical man, Dr Henry Jephson, who met the medical needs of the wealthy and offered his own personal free health service for the poor, and who is now celebrated in the lovely Jephson Gardens.
When the eleven year old Princess Victoria visited the town in 1830, she was delighted with all she found; and later, after becoming Queen, she was ‘graciously pleased’ to bestow upon the town the status which entitled it town to become known as Royal Leamington Spa.
The status of the town had changed by 1880, when those glorious spa days were almost over; for the arrival of the railways had brought travel within the means of many, including those of more modest means: and even the fashionable were then choosing to visit the seaside resorts rather than the spa towns.
Leamington Spa by no means lacks strange tales. In my book Paranormal Warwickshire I share the details of several curious experiences in such places as Victoria House, an elegant building constructed in 1835, which has seen a variety of different occupants including the Freemasons, and (during the Second World War), soldiers from the Polish and Czech armies in exile.
Many eerie experiences, too, are recorded at Leamington Spa railway station. I share several stories told by the night-time security officer. You can find out more in Paranormal Warwickshire, coming out in November 2020.
Do check out my other posts in this series, which I began on 14th August 2020 with Shakespeare’s Ghosts and Spirits, and which brings us up to the publication date of my book Paranormal Warwickshire – 15th November 2020.
Gaveston’s Cross and the Saxon Mill, Warwick
St Mary’s Warwick
Kenilworth Castle
Abbey Fields, Kenilworth
The other posts in the series will cover the following locations:
St Michael’s Church, Baddesley Clinton
Stoneleigh Abbey
Thomas Oken’s House, and the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick
Rugby Theatre and other Rugby locations
Nuneaton locations
Ettington Park Hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon
Coughton Court, Alcester
You can pre-order Paranormal Warwickshire here.
scskillman.com 
The only two towns (I believe) with the name ‘Spa’ in their titles. Cheltenham Spa population were asked if we wanted to drop the ‘Spa’ title from the railway station a few years ago and the unanimous call was to retain it!
That’s interesting… here I find that certainly people are very insistent on calling the town Royal Leamington Spa, giving it is full title. Certainly very few people refer to either Cheltenham or Leamington with their full titles but it’s still nice to know they’re there!