Leamington Arts Society teams up with Warwick landmark for new project

The information will be used to build the story of visitors throughout the Victorian period when the site was a popular destination for British and overseas tourists
The Arts Society Royal Leamington Spa will be working with the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick for the new project. Photo suppliedThe Arts Society Royal Leamington Spa will be working with the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick for the new project. Photo supplied
The Arts Society Royal Leamington Spa will be working with the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick for the new project. Photo supplied

Heritage volunteers from the Arts Society Royal Leamington Spa have joined forces with the team behind one of Warwick's iconic landmarks for a new project.

The new project, which is at the Lord Leycester Hospital, will involve transferring entries from the Lord Leycester Visitor books dating from 1853 onto a computerised database.

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The information will be used to build the story of visitors to the Lord Leycester throughout the Victorian period when the site was a popular destination for British and overseas tourists.

Arts Society volunteer coordinator, Mike Fox said: “We are so glad to be returning to volunteering again after the work of our various groups had to cease at the start of the pandemic.

"The volunteers are now busy deciphering handwriting and adding names to the database.

"We hope that our other groups at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry will be able to resume work soon.”

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Dr. Heidi Meyer, Master of the Lord Leycester Hospital, said: “In the Victorian age, due to the popularity of the Neo Gothic, the Lord Leycester Hospital, as one of the most important medieval buildings in Britain, drew lovers of the medieval from all over the world, especially the east coast of the USA.

"Notable people from closer to home, such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Anthony Trollope and the Prince of Wales also visited.

"These visitors are a very important part of the Lord Leycester Hospital’s history.

"We look forward to telling their stories in our new exhibition space which we hope will be available in 2023.”