From Chaos to the Charter. A complete history of Royal Leamington Spa, etc

Front matter

FROM CHAOS TO THE CHARTER. A COMPLETE HISTORY OK ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CHARTER OF INCORPORATION, WTTH CHRONOLOGY OF ALL THE PRfNCfPAL PUBLIC EVENTS DOWN TO DATE, HY T. B, DUDLEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Printed and Published by A. Tomes, 43 & 45, Bedford Street, Royal Leamington Spa. i8g6. ALL FROM CHAOS TO THE CHARTER. A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE CHARTER OF INCORPORATION, WLTH CHRONOLOGY OF THE PRINCIPAL PUBLIC EVENTS DOWN TO DATE. BY T. B. DUDLEY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Printed and Published by A. Tomes, 43 & 45, Bedford Street, Royal Leamington Spa. 1896.

Introduction

. ESCRIPTIVE accounts of comparatively small towns have been depreciated by some as devoid of interest and incapable of profitable study ; as fitted but for whiling away unoccupied hours, or, at the best, as being suited only for contracted minds incapable of understanding narratives unfolded upon scales of national grandeur. If it were necessary to quote authorities in demonstration of the utility of local histories, no three names could be cited which would carr}' greater weight than the Rev. Gilbert White, Professor Freeman and Lord Macaulay. The author of " The Natural History of Selborne " strongly recommends publication of the history of every district, because of the valuable materials which are in this way preserved for the larger accounts of the Counties, and, in his " Old English History," Professor Freeman says : " Every Shire, almost every neighbourhood, has its own contributions to English History.

Ver}' few of these could be directly mentioned in a book of this kind, but I hope that the sort of use which I have made of the facts and events special to my own neighbourhood may lead others to deal in the same way with the places and events which more closely concern them. I trust that intelligent readers and teachers will often be able to supplement my references to matters belonging to Somersetshire with references to the same kind belonging to other parts of England." Valuable as are these testimonies, they are surpassed by the more apposite opinion of Lord Macaulay. In his description of Bath he quotes from a local writer, who published a history of the city about sixty years after the Revolution, and of the changes which had taken place within his own recollection. In his younger days, " the gentlemen who visited the springs at Bath slept in rooms hardly as good as the garrets which he lived to see occupied by footmen.

The floors of the dining rooms were uncarpeted, and were coloured brown with a wash made of soot and small beer, in order to hide the dirt. Not a wainscot was painted. Not a hearth or a chimney piece was of marble. A slab of common freestone, and fireirons which had cost from three to four shillings were thought sufficient for any fire place. The best apartments were hung with coarse woollen stuff, and were furnished with rush-bottomed chairs." Upon this unassuming and unadorned passage, dealing with subjects usually considered to be but of trifling value, Lord Macaulay makes a remark for which authors of guides and local histories will ever feel thankful. " Readers," he observes, "who take an interest in the progress of civilisation and ofthe useful arts, will be grateful to the humble topographer who has recorded these facts, and will perhaps wish that historians of far higher pretensions had sometimes spared a few pages from military evolutions and political intrigues, for the purpose of letting us know how the parlours and bedchambers of our ancestors looked." introduction.

The immediate advantages of a local history are comprised, in the 1 it has of focusing the transactions of remote eras within appreciable limits- ° to the dry statistics of chronology the warmth and animation of instructive ■ _■ *!.__, r. resent is enriched creating a perspective of centuries, in which the effulgence ot tne p^ by the soft and mellowed splendour of a profusion of antique tints— of encouraging oca patriotism, by extending the intelligent range of its observation respecting e pans , the birthplace of some and the adopted home of others— and of disillusioning the mmds of all who contemplate progress with feelings of aversion, and change as the inevitable precursor of misfortune. To the attractions of hearth and home succeed those of the parish. Its history is the heirloom of each generation ; the common inheritance of each family.

The wider the knowledge of its struggles and triumphs, the warmer the sympathy and readier the resolution to promote its welfare by ever}' service at our disposal. Such are the objects this work is designed to promote. In the following pages I make no claim to literary display, nor infallibility of opinion. Doubtless in more competent hands the graces of rhetoric might have embellished many passages now conspicuous for want of ornament, and have given to periods of colloquial simplicity a more stately and rhythmical motion. But, in whatever garb the stor}- is clothed, the progress will be in the same direction, and for the same useful purpose. Dogmatism is laid aside as uncomplimentary to the intelligent reader, and partisanship as opposed to general interests. Some special merit the work may have for its industry in travelling farther back into the vanished centuries than any of its predecessors; for reconstructing the village previous to the Revolution of 1688; for summarising the principal events of its modern life ; and for presenting at one view to the public mind a concise but complete account of the rise and progress of Leamington Spa.

Grateful acknowledgements are due to a number of local gentlemen, who have either directed my attention to sources of information ofwhich I was previously unaware, or have generously placed at my disposal books, papers, and plans which I could not otherwise have obtained. During the progress of the work, I expect to receive similar assistance from others. I, therefore, abstain now from individual references, and generally thank all those to whom thc public, equally with myself, will be indebted for many valuable and instructive pages. Belgrave Cottage, T. B. DUDLEY. 3, Church Terrace, Leamington. January, 1896.

Chapter I. Ince

the date of the primitive village, the record of Leamington has been composed, like the histories of all such towns, of traditions, fables based upon slender facts, facts resting on fables neither few nor slender ; guides written with considerable ability, and sometimes displaying scientific knowledge and scholarly attainments ; plans, gossip), registers, official and private memoranda, poetry, etc. By carefully sifting this mass of heterogeneous material, we are able to extend the vista of the town and village back through the mists of many centuries and thus secure for the Royal Spa a title in which the ancient and the modern are blended with picturesque and harmonious effect. At least for a century prior to the days of Satchwell and Abbotts, the names of the residents may be recalled, and, by inductive processes of reasoning, the number of the inhabitants and their social condition determined as far back as the stormy days of the Civil Wars.

For convenience it may be divided into five periods, each of which possesses its own special distinctions and attractions. The first extends over the many millions of years during which Leamington was, as it were, evolved out of nothing, and, by a series of changes, ultimately acquired that form and consistence now so familiar to our observation. Its testimonies are the stony libraries of the Artesian Wells and the Bore Holes ; the rich deposits in the lias beds at Harbui-y, and Newbold ; in the quarries at Milverton and Warwick ; and in the polished pebbles and shells found along the banks ofthe Leam, and at considerable depths beneath the surface of the soil. The second era dates from the time when it first became a place of residence. Ethnography and etymology are the sole repositories of the evidence relative to the attenuated village in its original state.

By the aid of these friendly guides a time in the gray dawn of our national history can be approximately selected when a small band of immigrants settled upon land near the site of the Parish Church, constructed a few mud huts, and called themselves "The Leamingas," namely, "the dwellers on the banks of the Leam." After the lapse of some four or five centuries, the completion of Doomsday Book (1086) marks the commencement of the third principal division of the account of Leamington. Henceforth the historical nebulæ increase in number, in clearness, and in interest with each succeeding reign. The chequered fortunes ofthe estate are traceable from William the Conqueror to Edward Willes and Matthew Wise ; and the names and social conditions of the inhabitants are discoverable by a badge of slavery which the Parliament of Charles II. imposed, and the Parliament of William III. abolished.

The grant to thc Priors of Kenilworth ; the Dissolution ofthe Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and the passing of an Enclosure Act, with its Award, are the chief landmarks of this period. For the fourth volume of local is ory, an examination must be made of the events which transpired between 178s ' • In those thirty-nine years is discoverable much of the initial em rgy which has wo and fortune for the town in these more modern times. Drs. Kerr, of - o amp c , Johnstone, of Birmingham; Holyoake and Lambe, of Warwick ; and Loudon, of Leamington, by their able analyses of the waters, represented the progress of medical science since the discursive allusions of Camden, Speed and Dugdale. Two of the early guide-writers also mention a Dr. Allen, for whom the coveted honour is claimed of having been the first medical benefactor of the Spa ; but his place of residence is not given, nor are his writings extant.

Satchwell and Abbotts now appear on the scene as the pioneers of the men who, a generation later, spread out the new town like a richly painted canvas among the verdant pastures and cornfields on the north bank of the Leam. James Bisset, busy as a bee and blithe as a lark, was carolling his humorous ditties into the ears of the modern Leamingas, while the Messrs. Marshalls, Elliston, Merridew, Hewett, Enock, and their music-loving confreres were providing a home for Melody by industriously organising the first of those musical associations which have ever been counted amongst our most cherished recreative possessions. In this period we also have the exceptionally interesting picture of old Thomas Dawkes, dwelling with contentment in one of the cottages near the church, patiently and laboriously spelling out in his own quaint fashion, "The Short History of the Spa," and vieing with the poetic Bisset for honours as the first historian of modern Leamington.

Nonconformity, at that time unfashionable and the subject of social and political ostracism, a seedling from the resultant harvest of Lord Brooke's labours in the seventeenth century, was brought over from Warwick and found a new home at the Spa. The fifth, and most eventful epoch was ushered in about the year 1825, when, by the establishment of a Board of Commissioners, a scientific frontier was constructed between the decaying village and the growing town. By the creation of this new power the Court of Quarter Sessions and the Parish Vestry were dispossessed of some of their ancient rights and privileges, and the curtain was lowered for ever upon the lights and shadows of a village history of fourteen or fifteen centuries' duration. The town was then in a chrysalis state — putting" off the grub and taking on the butterfly — but it was ideally pretty in its original rusticity.

Fruitful gardens and orchards were plentiful — burdening the air in the spring with the sweet aroma of their blossoms, and in the golden autumn bending their branches beneath insupportable fruitages of apples, pears and plums. The devious Leam, still unimproved, flagellated by entangling bush and bramble, was chasing with petulance in its narrow bounds at the pebbles and boulders which conspired to obstruct its progress. Close to the Bowling Green Inn was a line of noble elms, with wide-spreading branches and cloud-aspiring tops. The wooden footbridge spanning the river had been supplanted by a structure of brick and stone ; but on the site of the Jephson Gardens were fragrant fields, in the hedgerows of which, when the year was young and the May at its sweetest, the juvenile Hampdens and Miltons of the village searched for birds' nests and gathered wild fruits and flowers.

The old ford, the course of which down to. the river ran where letters by the thousand are now posted daily to all parts of the earth, remained. Between thirty and forty thatched cottages kept the village in good countenance. Some of those standing by the Church were conspicuous for their uncompromising Arcadian aspect — their trim little gardens and colonies of bees. Slowly the Parade was lengthening towards Warwick Street. Local colour of dress and dialect was observable in every lane and footpath ; while in Clemens Street, the favourite resort of visitors, the smock frocks of the natives commingled with the gorgeous attire of the votaries of wealth, whom fashion had drawn or affliction had driven to the waters. The establishment of the Leamington Spa Courier, THE LAST OF OLD LEAMINGTON.

COTTAGE NEAR THE CHURCH, DEMOLISHED JUNE, 1880. {Copied by permission from an Etching ly Mr. F. IVhitehead.)] in 1828, by which a transient system of paragraph journalism assumed the permanent character of a weekly paper, was a fitting accompaniment to the new Municipal System. It served the practical purpose of bringing the ratepayers into sympathy with the novel experiment which was being made in local government, and provided a much needed organ for the dissemination of useful information respecting local legislation, and for the discussion of questions affecting the interests of the budding borough. No apology is necessary for introducing, in connection with this epitome, the notes of Thomas Dawkes, Parish Clerk. He dwelt in one of the cottages which formerly occupied the ground at the west end of the Parisii Church, the last of which were pulled down in 1880.

He was so well known that, by common consent, the group'of humble dwellings were distinguished by his name. " Dawkes' Cottages " is a title as familiar to the student of the topography of early Leamington as Satchwell's Post Office, Newbold Comyn, the Manor House and the Parish Church. He was a chronicler in his own fashion ; a sort of local Dugdale, who, in the absence of a* Leamington journal, made his own reports ofthe events of his time. His writings are not voluminous, but there is sufficient to create a sincere wish that they had been continued over a longer period, and applied to a greater variety of topics. Posterity is indebted to his unpretentious labours for many historical data, the value of which is enhanced by -each successive decade of years. "The Baths first erected — both hot and cold — at Leamington Priors were by Mr. "William Abbotts, in the year I ;86, which are called the original Baths, that is, the oldest Baths.

"The first stone in the New Town was laid on Tuesday, the 20th day of September, in the year 1808. The first stone was laid by John Tomes, Esq. ; the second by the Rev. James Walhouse, and the third by Benjamin Satchwell. and the bells were set ringing on the occasion ; the lingers had 16s. for so doing. " The same year a new Salt Water-Spring was found on the Xorth side ofthe river. "The New Bridge was begun the same year, but not finished until the foUowing year, 1809. "The first Market that ever was held at Leamington Priors was on the 5th day of May, in the year 1813. There were 6 stalls with butchers' meat and garden stuff, butter and eggs in plenty, and even loads of greens sold on the first Market day in 1813. "King George IV. was crowned on the 19th day of July, 182 1. Caroline, his wife, died August 7th, 1821.

" The first Petty Sessions ever held at Leamington was on Thursday, the 6th day of November, 1823 ; 5 Magistrates were present. They were to be held every month. "Lamps lighted for the first time by gas from Warwick was on the 29th day of October, 1823, in the Xew Town ; in number 18 that evenin". "A new piece erected to the Parish Church of Leamington Priors on the South side in the year 1816. And another large piece was added to it on the North side and erected to the old part in the years 1824 and 1825. Mr. John Russell erected a market house in the year 1824, at his own expense; that is Mr. Russell at the Bath Hotel. "The Leamington Gazette appeared in thc AVarwick Paper for the sirst time at Midsummer in 1823. 'A new hotel was begun in June, 1818 ; it is known by the name of the Regent Hotel ; tenanted by Mr. Williams, from the Bedford Hotel. • The Organs in Leamington Church and Chapel cost /330 each, and the playing the first time in the Church was on Christmas Day, 1825, and in the Chapel 3 Sundays before. •The first brick of Mr. Wills's Bridge was laid oil the 16th day of April, 1829, it bemg Easter Monday : the first brick was by Joseph Hanbott ; the ringers had ios. given them. ' The Duke of Wellington arrived at Mr. Williams's hotel on the 17th day of April, 1829, about half-past 6 o'clock, and he went away again about 4 o'clock on the next day— the 18th day.

The building over the old established Salt Well was erected in 1804, and the culvert was turned by it about 8 or 9 yards the same year, and not further until the Xew Bridge was finished ; that was by the Cemetery. Mr. Russell sunk the price of his ale from 8d. per quart in-doors to 6d. per quart on the first day of November, 1827. Trees first planted in Leamington Churchyard on Wednesday, the 5th day of December, 1829, by Mr. Cullis and his men. The first stone of the Roman Catholic Chapel was laid on Thursday, the 1 7th day of April, 1828. Mr Russell sunk the price of his ale again on the 18th day of November, 1830, to 4d. per quart. The old salt well was rose and repaired from going down 9 steps to up 6 steps in the year 1828. The same year there was a Court Leet and a Court Baron held at Mr. Russell's, at the Bath Hotel, on the 14th day of April, 1828.

There had not been a Court held at Leamington for upwards of 90 years before. The Roman Chapel was opened for the first time on Thursday, the 2nd day of October, 1828. A new Chapel towards the Water Mill was begun to be built in April, 1829, called the Independent Chapel. It was opened for Divine Service on Thursday, August the 27th, 1829. Service in the Church in the evening at half-past 6 o'clock begun on Sunday, June 20th, 1830. The gas first lighted in the Church on the 15th day of August, 1830 ; in number 19 lamps. King George IV. died June 26th, 1830. King William IV. was nominated June 26th, 1830, and ascended the Throne June 28th, 1830, and was Crowned September 8th, 183 1. He was the Duke of Clarence ; he married Adelaide of Saxe Meinengen in 1818 ; he was born August 21st, 1765, and he was Proclaimed at Leamington July 2nd, 1830, with a band of music and 2 flags flying ; he was Proclaimed in 4 different places.

King George IV. was born August 12th, 1762, and died June 26th, 1830, aged 67 years and * months. He ascended the Throne January 29th, and Proclaimed January 31st, 1820, and crowned on the 19th clay of July, 1821, and was buried July 15th, 1830, at 12 o'clock at night. * Dawkes has omitted to state the number of the months. Kmg William the fourth ascended the Throne June 26th, ,830, and he was Proclaimed London June 28th, ,830; and he was Proclaimed at Leamington July 2nd, 1830, u_ 4 different p ac in Leamington, and there were a band of music and 2 flags, and a great number of peop walked in procession ; and he was Crowned on the 8th day of September, 183., and a grand illumination there was at Leamington Priors on the occas.on. The Free Masons walked in procession to Leamington Church on the i4th day of September, 1830, in their full uniform, with a band of music and all their full accoutrements m then Rules and Orders, and the Earl Feris at their head as their leader, and I received 5S. for being Clerk on the occasion.

The Bathing Institution and Leamington Hospital, the Honourable Charles Bertie Percy in the Chair, he lard the first stone ; Doctor Warneford and his Sister gave 1 500 Pounds, and it _s to be called the General Bathing Institution and Leamington Hospital, after his name ; and the first stone was laid on the ioth day of April, 1832, and the amount of the sum is 300 and 8 Pounds, besides Annual Subscribers. As an illustration of the rapidity of the march of events, and the closeness with which one change treads upon the heels of another, no period can be chosen more instructive than the past fifty years. Within that time three Local Authorities have been extinguished, and two brand new Municipal Institutions, Phœnix-like, have arisen out of the ashes of departed worth. While the number of the governing bodies has thus been reduced, the area of local government has been ver}' considerably extended, by the inclusion of the urban portions of Milverton and Lillington within the sphere of the Municipal domain.

Three new churches, four dissenting places of worship, four board schools, a handsome Town Hall, a new Roman Catholic Church, a commodious Post Office, and a Theatre have been added to the numerous list of attractive public buildings previously in existence ; besides which, the Warneford Hospital has been more than doubled in size, and a new cemetery, consisting of twelve acres of land, purchased, and applied to the purposes of sepulture. Extensive as are these statistics of change, they by no means exhaust the list. The acquisition of a bountiful supply of pure and wholesome water, free from the possibility of pollution, takes precedence of the invaluable sanitary arrangements which have distinguished the period under review. The purchase of the Pump Room property was a signal exercise of forethought, by which the credit of the town was pledged in the interests of its health, its amusement, and its recreation.

The founding of the College identified Leamington with the higher forms of classical and commercial education ; and the establishment of a Philosophical Society introduced a class of lectures, than which none more brilliant have ever graced a public platform. These parochial and municipal mutations are strikingly in contrast with the unchangeability of the waters. The saline spring, known to Rous in the fifteenth century, and referred to by him as having been famous in the twelfth, has, with lavish profusion, excited the wonder and supplied the wants of many generations. Here, suffering humanity, with its manifold and complex ailments, from ever}- country and clime, has sought the assuagement of wracking pains and the cure of deep-seated maladies. Unlike the mocking mirage of the desert, which aggravates the thirst of the parched traveller by tantalising his vision with an unrealisablc expectation, the water has spontaneously responded to every applicant and fulfilled every promise.

In the catholic dispensation of its intrinsic benefits, no restrictions have been imposed by age, class, or race. Those who drink at the spring in these later times realise all the pristine virtues of the waters. The progress in the material wealth of the town has been a series of leaps and bounds. The streets and roads, which in 1840, were comparatively few and mostly new, now measure 33 miles in length, and are all well paved, sewered and metalled. The annual revenue has quadrupled; the total sums being £9,598, in 1840, as against -^36-z5 3 9s- 6d., in 1895, inclusive of a sum of £10,780 which was raised for Police, School Board, Cemetery, and other Rates. The nett rateable value is £129,210, and the estimated annual rental, £159,279. The amount of the income tax cannot be ascertained, but, on the most moderate computation, it must be very large.

When the census was taken, in i84i,the population was 12,812; it is now 27,220. The houses number 6,500 ; and, although the liabilities upon mortgage of the rates amount to £82,138 4s. 7d., the estimated value of the property, assets, and capital outlay of the Corporation is no less than £186,649 6s. 7d. It is questionable whether, in the histories of fashionable watering places, statistics can be quoted more conclusive of popular favour, successful administration and prosperity. The statistics of the growth of the population from the first Census, in 1801, to 1 89 1, are appended, together with the percentages of increases on each decade, as prepared by Mr. William Bateson, F.S.A.A., the Borough Accountant. From these it will be seen that the largest increase took place between 1831 and 1841.

Chapter II. Phe

origin of Leamington, involved as it is in obscurity, is, nevertheless, attended by circumstances which have justified a distinguished historian in assigning it a place in the early annals of England. Mr. J. R. Green, in "The Making of England," describes it as existing in the form of a quiet township in the gloaming of the seventh century. As the maturity of the oak proclaims a prior existence in the germ-form ofthe acorn, this "quiet town ship" of Leamington, in the year 650, gives assurance of a still more remote antiquity as the date of the original settlement. Considering the averment of Rous, in which Camden and other historians of credibility concur, that Warwick was a British town of importance before the invasion of England by the Romans in the year 50 ; the proximity of Leamington to Warwick and also to Whitnash, a village of undoubted British origin, we see no reason to question the presence of a small community of ancient Britons, dwelling in rudely constructed huts upon the south bank of the Leam, in the early morning of our national life ; nor cause for hesitation in believing that, in all the vicissitudes through which England has passed in the intervening Niagara of centuries, the occupation of this identical site as a place of residence has been maintained in unbroken continuity to the present day.

Except such as may be deduced from general considerations, there is no evidence of the tribal nature of the inhabitants having undergone any change in the seventh century, in consequence of the extirpation of the Britons by the Saxons. The phrase, " quiet township," comports more with a British than a Saxon occupation, and it is not incompatible with reason to suppose that after the overthrow of the Britons, the original Leamingas, accepting the inevitable and giving no cause for offence, were permitted to remain unmolested in the chosen home of their forefathers. The place from whence these primitive wanderers came, and their number, are questions which cannot now be determined with precision. The most probable theory is that they were from Warwick, and, with the " native tribe" dwelling in a few huts at Whitnash, formed a three-fold community of kinsfolk, between whom there were constant communications and business relations.

Long anterior to these twilight periods, Leamington was subjected to a series of phenomenal changes in the composition of its soil and the character of its climate. The duration of the formative era — when land was being brought from immense distances by oceanic porterage, and deposited in the order in which we now find it — when the configuration of thc surface was constantly assuming new shapes, in consequence of the dynamic force ofthe internal fires, is estimated at from twenty to thirty millions of years. Difficult as it is to comprehend the lateral extension of land over an area of hundreds of miles, and deposits thousands of feet in depth, by means of water action ; to realise the stupendous eruptive energy which raised the Newbold Hills and the table-lands of Ufton to their present altitudes, we have only to study the object lessons constantly brought within the horizon of our vision in order to understand and accept them as articles of geological faith.

About half a century ago, the Local Board of Health spent many thousands of pounds in cleansing out the bed of the Leam, in reducing its contortions, in widening its banks, and in constructing a weir near the railway bridge, at thc end of the New River Walk. Fifty years cannot be compared with thirty millions, nor can the feeblest analogy be instituted between the Leam, still characteristically sinuous above the Willes' Bridge, and that boundless empire of water, which, in the chaos of the world's histoiy, rolled with tempestuous force over the site of Leamington, depositing yearly millions of tons of silt and debris ; yet, below the weir, the small and sluggish Leam has nearly blocked up the passage of the water, by deposition of silt, brought down from the Southam and Offchurch districts.

In the lateral extension of this obstruction towards the Avon we see the way in which Leamington was formed. Geology is a science far more closely connected with the health of a town than was popularly supposed a quarter of a century ago. From the ppsition of being an intel lectual appendage of purely academic value, it has come to be recognised as a branch of knowledge of prime practical importance. This change in public opinion was generally due to the passing ofthe Public Health Act, 1872 — a wise measure, designed to promote sanitation. But it was as much educational in its effects as sanitary. The Inspectors of Nuisances, who had no special qualifications for the discharge of their duties, were superseded by Medical Officers of Health, trained in the studies of water pollution, sewerage, and the suitability of soil for residences.