The town built on ancient river terraces of the river Learn, has not made use of the local stone as in Kenilworth, but sought to emulate the grandeur of Bath and London. The stately Georgian houses may look like they have been constructed from "limestone" however on close inspection we find that they were constructed of brick coated with stucco to look like the architecture of Bath!

Queen Victoria had visited Leamington, and gave the town its Royal charter in 1838, by which it became known as "Royal Leamington Spa. This is commemorated by the statue of Queen Victoria, made of white Italian Carrara marble and standing on a plinth of pink Scottish granite.".

The shop fronts along the Parade and adjacent streets display a range of interesting decorative stone cladding from around the world including Italian travertine, a various granites, Norwegian Larvikite and "home grown" oolitic limestone. Jane and Mihaela will expertly guide you around the town explaining the origin of the rocks, and what we can interpret from these urban exposures. The tour will end in the delightful setting of Jephson Gardens where a number of monuments constructed of different stone can be appreciated.

We will meet outside the pump room / library entrance at 10:15 for a 10:30 start. The walk is about 1 mile and should take around 2 hours to complete, perfectly timed for lunch in a cafe of your choosing.

Registration for this event is essential. Being a town walk the number of participants will be limited to 20. To register please email [email protected]