IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Avenue Road, LEAMINGTON SPA, CV31 3NW

A plaque in the garden of The Manor House Image tells us: "Lawn Tennis was invented in Leamington Spa in 1872 by Major Harry Gem, a Birmingham solicitor and sportsman, who created a game similar to racquets which did not require an expensive indoor court and could be played outside. he first played it with his friend, Augurio Perera, on the lawns of the Manor House Hotel where they formed the Leamington Lawn Tennis Club on the site now occupied by the apartment block you can see to the left of the hotel. Leamington Lawn Tennis and Squash Club is now located on Guys Cliffe Avenue."

Looking along Anvenue Road close to the junction with Lower Avenue and Spencer Street.

Viewed from Spencer Street. Lower Avenue http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4448685 is on the left.

Ah, CCTV: gives the game away. This is what's round the corner: Image It is cleaner and much better-lit than it used to be, causes somewhat less anxiety; see also: Image and, from the south end Image

Refuse collections are occurring.

Ownerships make this piece of ground landlocked, so it has escaped development despite its prime position close to the town centre and the railway station. The path to and from the station, right, has street lighting so is presumably public highway but the grass is believed to be private land.

This plaque is located in front of The Manor House in Avenue Road, CV31 3ND and has the following wording in the top left hand corner: Lawn Tennis was invented in Leamington Spa in 1872 by Major Harry Gem, a Birmingham solicitor and sportsman, who created a game similar to racquets which did not require an expensive indoor court and could be played outside. he first played it with his friend, Augurio Perera, on the lawns of the Manor House Hotel where they formed the Leamington Lawn Tennis Club on the site now occupied by the apartment block you can see to the left of the hotel. Leamington Lawn Tennis and Squash Club is now located on Guys Cliffe Avenue. Unfortunately, the rest of the wording on the plaque was so faint that it couldn't be readable. Incidentally, there are now 66 apartments in The Manor House behind the plaque.

Never a true manor house it was the home of Matthew Wise, one of the three or four Leamington landowners in the early 19th century. By the mid-century it was a hotel, handy for the turnpike road into the old town. In recent years it has been converted to apartments. In the right hand corner is a plaque on the birth of Lawn Tennis.

This was the original manor house of the Wise family, which owned large chunks of Leamington Spa during its Regency boom years. The family built another mansion called Shrubland Hall nearby to replace this building, which found new use as a hotel. Ironically, this building survives and has been converted and extended into flats. Its successor, Shrubland Hall, was demolished in 1948 to provide a council housing estate.