One of the prettiest features of this town, distinguished nowadays for its handsome shops and villas, are the Jephson Gardens, covering an area of some twenty acres, and situated almost in the centre of the town, the picturesqueness of which is greatly added to by the presence of the River Leam skirting them along the southern boundary. This site was rented to trustees for a period of two thousand years at a pepper–corn rent (if demanded) by the late Mr. Edward Willes, of Newbold Comyn, with the stipulation that the ground should never be built upon. The property, which was then a strip of meadow land, was taken over by the trustees in May 1846, and was immediately laid out by them in much its present form.
On the opposite side of the river are the Mill Gardens; and on the same side of the river and along its western circuit has been laid out a pretty Victoria Park, with its picturesque New River Walk.
Still farther sylvan promenades are afforded by the Pump Room Gardens. The grounds are several acres in extent, and are beautifully laid out with ornamental flower–beds and winding paths; whilst on the side next to the parade is the famous Linden Avenue, three–quarters of a century old, and forming one of the finest shady promenades in Leamington, or indeed in any town of the Midlands.
Of ancient public buildings Leamington has practically none, if one excepts the reconstructed and much altered Pump Room, once the scene of so much of the fashionable life of the town.
BURTON DASSETT CHURCH.
None of the other public buildings, with the exception of the Town Hall, call for particular notice.
There are not a few literary associations with Leamington, and the Holly Walk, which is a continuation of Regent Grove, a fine tree–lined avenue, will always possess an interest for lovers of Dickens from the fact that here the novelist laid the scene of the first meeting between Edith Granger and Mr. Carker in Dombey and Son. Scarcely a more picturesque spot than this walk, with its row of fine trees running down the centre, its grass plats, shady seats, and flower beds, could be found for a meeting of the kind.