Pathways to the Past

The Benjamin Satchwell is a sacred place known to many a student at the University of Warwick. Whether you’re after a post-circle round of shots before POP! on a Wednesday or a quiet pint on a Sunday night, this is the place to go. On a personal note, it’s an institution that holds a long and storied history in my own time at Warwick. Or, if you want the simplest explanation: it’s just the local Wetherspoons. However, this article isn’t about The Benjamin Satchwell, but about

Beloved by many Warwick students, Royal Leamington Spa is a beautiful town in Warwickshire, characterised by grandiose Regency buildings, particularly those on the half-mile-long Parade, as well as the Royal Pump Rooms. Yet, until the 19th century, ‘Leamington Priors’ was little more than a small village south of the River Leam. This article traces the story of how this changed, and how the ‘Spa’ in Leamington Spa came to be. Leamington’s mineral springs had been known since