The New Free Library & Technical Institute c1908
The historic Grade II listed building originally opened its doors in 1902. In recent years, the structure has been beautifully preserved and converted into a residential apartment development known as The Old Library.
This postcard of the Municipal Schools & Public Library on Avenue Road in Royal Leamington Spa dates back to c1910
This class portrait from Bath Street School (historically known as the Bath Place National School dates back to the 1900s–1910s. The school operated for a century before the building eventually closed and was converted into the Bath Place Community Centre in the 20th century. Following a severe fire in 2008, the site was rebuilt into a specialized support facility
The Slate Sign: The small chalkboard held by the young boy in the front row explicitly reads “Leamington St. Paul’s School, Class 1, 1913”. St. Paul’s School originally started out as part of St. Mary’s parish before breaking away to become St. Paul’s School in 1875. The school operated on a couple of separate sites before its Victorian-era premises were later combined and modernised into a single location on Upper Holly Walk.
This postcard captures the students of Shrubland Street Girls’ School celebrating their 1st Prize win at the Leamington & County Musical Festival in 1911. Opened in 1883 on Shrubland Street in the south of Royal Leamington Spa, it was built to accommodate the rapidly growing working-class population of the area.
St. Paul’s Sunday School Teachers during the late Edwardian era, circa 1910. While the weekday St. Paul’s School on Upper Holly Walk focused on general education, the Sunday School was run directly by the parish of St. Paul’s Church (located on Leicester Street) to provide religious education to local children.
Shrubland Hall in Leamington Spa was built and owned by the Wise family. The Wise family occupied Shrubland Hall until the early 20th century. Following the death of the last member of the Wise family in 1924. Shortly after the Wise family left, the building was converted into Shrubland Hall School, a girls’ boarding and day school that operated from 1924 to 1937. The school closed in 1937, and the hall was subsequently demolished in the 1930s. The land and estate grounds were cleared and redeveloped into a residential housing estate.
The historic Convent of the Sacred Heart was located on Binswood Avenue. In 1903, a French religious order known as the Society of the Sacred Heart purchased a prominent local building to set up a convent and training school. The nuns had been exiled from France following anti-clerical laws passed by the French government.
The Convent was short-lived in the town.
Following the outbreak of the First World War, German U-boat activity in the English Channel made journeys between France and England highly dangerous. Because of this risk, the nuns reluctantly moved back to France around 1914–1915, leaving the premises vacant.
Leamington High School for Girls The Science and Art Room depicted
Leamington High School for Girls originally occupied central town buildings, with its primary boarding house, “The Cedars situated at 42 Warwick Place, Leamington Spa”.
The school was founded on September 23, 1884, by Rose Kingsley (daughter of the prominent Victorian author and clergyman Charles Kingsley). Its very first classrooms were set up in a building on The Parade(now home to a Lloyds Bank branch).
Beachamp Hall – Leamington High School
1922: The school acquired and moved into Beauchamp Hall, a Grade II listed Cotswold stone building on Beauchamp Avenue.
1949: The institution was officially renamed The Kingsley School to celebrate its founder and her contributions to Leamington Spa.
August 1, 1848: The iconic Tudor Gothic campus on Binswood Avenue originally opened its doors as Leamington College. Founded as a proprietary public school for the sons of nobility, clergy, and gentry, it functioned under this initial guise until financial hurdles forced it to close in 1902 (after which the French nuns took over the site).
Autumn 1922: The institution officially began its modern era as the town’s local grammar school, known formally as Leamington College for Boys.
Today, the iconic, picturesque building has been beautifully restored and operates as the luxury Audley Binswood Retirement Village
Leigh Bank College was a prominent private boarding school for girls operating in Leamington during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was situated at 89 Holly Walk. Leigh Bank College closed in the first half of the 20th century. The historic structure was later demolished in 1960 and replaced by a modern block of residential flats known as Talbot Court.
Beech Lawn, “Dr Henry Jephson’s splendid mansion” once stood at the south-west corner of the crossing of Warwick Street and Dale Street. Early 20th Century, when the historic estate was being used as a school. Built in 1831 the site is now occupied by the Leamington Spa Fire Station and County Fire Headquarters.
The school building on Augusta Place was built and opened in 1880.
While Catholic education in Leamington Spa originally began in 1847 at a site on New Street, the growing community prompted the construction of the new school building north of the river on Augusta Place. Historically, it served as St Peter’s girls’ school and was famously used as a temporary place of worship in December 1883 after the main body of the nearby St Peter’s Church tragically burned to the ground.
Aerial View of Leamington College
