194. LEAMINGTON.-KENILWORTH. Countess are supposed to be interred. Blacklow hill, opposite, is the spot where Piers Gavaston was beheaded in 1312 Two miles from Warwick is LEAMINGTON, or LEAMINGTON PRIORS, one of the most fashionable spas in the kingdom. It is pleasantly situated on the Leam, which is crossed by a handsome bridge. The waters are used, both internally and for the purpose of bathing, and are found very efficacious in many chronic disorders, in diseases of the skin, and visceral obstructions. The principal buildings are the new pump-room and baths, which are supposed to be the most elegant in Europe; the assembly-rooms, concert and ball-rooms, the reading-rooms and library, the billiard-room, the Regent Hotel, the museum and picture gallery, the theatre, &c. The Ranelagh and Priory Gardens form delightful promenades. Leamington possesses also two churches, an Episcopal chapel, & meeting-house, a Roman Catholic chapel, an institution for the gratuitous supply of baths to the poor, national schools, several libraries, &c. The rides and walks in the vicinity are interesting and attractive; and very delightful excursions may be made to Warwick Castle, Kenilworth, Stratford, &c. Pop. 1851, 15,692. KENILWORTH is five miles distant from Leamington, and about the same distance from Warwick and from Coventry. Its name is said to have been derived from Kenulph, a Saxon King of Mercia, and his son Kenelm. In Queen Elizabeth's time it was called Killingworth ; but the original and correct designation is now restored. The ruins of its magnificent castle form one of the most splendid and picturesque remains of castellated strength to be found in the kingdom. It was founded by Geoffrey de Clinton, Lord Chamberlain and Treasurer to Henry I., but it shortly passed to the Crown. Henry III. granted the castle to the famous Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and Eleanor his wife, for their respective lives; and when the Earl took up arms against the King, it was the great place After the defeat and death of the Earl of of resort for the insurgent nobles. Leicester, his eldest son, Simon de Montfort, continued to shelter himself in this fortress. He shortly afterwards withdrew to France, but his adherents held out the castle for six months against all the forces the King could bring against it, and they ultimately capitulated upon highly favourable terms. In the time of Fdward I. it was the scene of a splendid and costly tournament. Edward II. was kept a prisoner in this castle before his removal to Berkeley Castle, where he was ultimately murdered. In the reign of Edward III., Kenilworth passed into the possession of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who made large additions to it. When his son, Henry Bolingbroke, became King, it again became the property of the Crown, and so continued till the reign of Elizabeth, who conferred it on her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. This nobleman expended enormous sums in adorning and enlarging this structure. The following description of the appearance of the castle at this period is given by Sir Walter Scott in his novel of " Kenilworth :”—“ The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure enclosed seven acres, a part of which was occupied by extensive stables, and by a pleasure-garden, with its trim arbours and par terres, and the rest forming the large base-court or outer yard of the noble castie. The lordly structure itself, which rose near the centre of this spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of magnificent castellated buildings, apparently of different ages, surrounding an inner court, and bearing, in the names attached to each portion of the magnificent mass, and in the armorial bearings which were there blazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs who had long passed away, and whose history, could ambition have bent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty favourite who had acquired, and was now augmenting, this fair domain. A large and massive keep, which formed the citadel of the castle, was of uncertain though great antiquity. It bore the name of Cæsar, probably from its resemblance to that in the Tower of London so called. The external wall of this royal castle was, on the south and west sides, adorned and defended by a lake, partly artificial, across which Leicester had constructed a stately bridge, that Elizabeth might enter the castle by a path hitherto untrodden, instead of the usual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected a gatehouse or barbican, which still exists, and is equal in extent, and superior in architecture, to the baronial castle of many a northern chief. Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase, full of red deer, fallow deer, roes, and every species of game, and abounding with lofty trees, from amongst which the extensive front and massive towers of the castle were seen to rise in majesty and beauty." Elizabeth visited Leicester at Kenilworth in the years 1566, 1568, and 1575. The last visit, which far eclipsed all other "Royal Progresses," has been immortalized by Scott. A reference to the ground plan of the castle, and some extracts from the inventory of Leicester's furniture, in the appendix to Scott's "Kenilworth," will afford some idea of the enormous extent of the place, and the costliness of its decorations. After Leicester's death Kenilworth was seized by the crown, and was ultimately granted by Cromwell to certain officers of his army, who demolished the splendid fabric for the materials. After the Restoration, Charles II. gave the property to Sir Edward Hyde, whom he created Baron Kenilworth and Earl of Clarendon. For a long period the castle was left to ruin; but the present Earl of Clarendon has manifested a praiseworthy anxiety to arrest its decay. The only remaining part of the original fortress is the keep or Cæsar's Tower, the walls of which are in some places sixteen feet thick. The remains of the additions made by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, are termed Lancaster buildings. In the latter are to be seen the relics of the great hall, a fine baronial room, 86 feet in length, and 45 feet in width. Although the erections or Leicester are of the most recent date, they have the most ancient and ruined appearance, having been built of a brown friable stone, not well calculated to stand the weather. "We cannot but add," says Sir Walter Scott," that of this lordly palace, where princes feasted and heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize which valour won, all is now desolate. The bed of the lake is now a rushy swamp, and the 196 LONDON TO BIRMINGHAM BY ST ALBANS, DUNSTABLE, &e massy ruins of the castie only serve to show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment." ON BIGHT FROM LOND. LXXXIII. LONDON TO BIRMINGHAM BY ST ALBANS, DUNSTABLE, Islington. is a neat town, situated on South Mimms. London Colney. A cross river Colne. ST ALBANS, 12 9 11 141 Caen Wood, Earl of Mansfield. While occupied by the great Lord Mansfield it narrowly escaped destruction by the Gordon Rioters; and Fitzroy Farm. Totteridge Park. Derham Park. Clare Hall. 174 Colney Ho. 21 St Albans is a town of very great antiquity, having derived its origin from the ruins of the Roman Verulamium. An immense number and variety of antiquities have been discovered here at different times, and some vestiges of the ancient town may still be seen at a little distance from St Albans. Here was formerly a magnificent abbey and monastery for Benedictine monks, of which the fine old abbey church and a large square gateway are now the only remains. The abbey was founded by Offa, King of the Mercians, in honour of St Alban. The church was made parochial in the reign of Edward VI. It has all the appearance of a cathedral, and its interior exhibits the various styles of several ages of architecture, and is adorned with numerous rich screens and monuments. Its appearance from the hill, on the Watford Road, is very striking. The town contains three other churches, in one of which-the church of St Michael-the fine monument to the great Lord Bacon may be seen. St Albans has also a new town-hall, several meeting-houses, and charitable institutions. Two battles were fought here during the wars of the Roses; the first, in 1455, when Richard Duke of York obtained a victory over Henry VI.; the second, in 1461, when Margaret of Anjou defeated the king-maker Earl of Warwick. St Albans returned two members to Parliament till 1852, when it was disfranchised. Population in 1851, 7185. Sir John Mandeville, the traveller, was a native of this town, and there is a monument to his memory in the abbey church. There is one also to the good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. |