ROYAL LEAMINGTON SPA

also called Leamington Spa town, Warwick district, administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, England. It lies along the River Leam, which is a tributary of the River Avon. The 900-year-old Midland Oak, 2 miles (3 km) to the east, traditionally marked the centre of England. The community was a rural settlement until the 1780s, when upper-class members of Georgian society arrived to drink its saline waters and made it a resort town. In 1838 Queen Victoria visited the spa and granted it the right to use the prefix Royal. The town claims to be the home of lawn tennis, the game having been played there in the 1870s. The Parade (built 181030) and Royal Pump Room (built 1814; restored 1953) are examples of Georgian architecture. Laid out spaciously with parks and ornamental gardens, Leamington is today a residential and resort town lying within easy reach of the city of Coventry and the Birmingham metropolitan area. Pop. (1991) 55,396.