On Wednesday 17th June, Year 12 English Literature students visited Strawberry Hill House in support of their study of Gothic fiction.
Built in the 1700s by politician, antiquarian and writer Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill House was designed to imitate the fantastical settings of medieval romances and was built decades before the Gothic Revival in British architecture. While living here, Walpole had a nightmare, which inspired him to write The Castle of Otranto, which, in its second edition was subtitled A Gothic Story. In this way, the novel not only inaugurated an entire genre of literature, it even went so far as to provide a name for it.
Through a guided tour of Walpole’s home, and a lecture, students were able to gain a deeper understanding of the local origins of the Gothic genre.
