Shelley House (Albion House)

Where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein

The most famous literary address in Marlow is Albion House on West Street, where Percy and Mary Shelley lived from 1817 to 1818. It was in this house that Mary Shelley — aged just 19 — completed the manuscript of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, one of the most influential novels in English. The house is privately owned and not open to the public, but there is a blue plaque on the facade and the building itself, a handsome Georgian townhouse, is easy to spot.

The Shelleys' time in Marlow was productive but brief. Percy wrote The Revolt of Islam here and was active in local charity work, distributing blankets and food to the poor. Their neighbour Thomas Love Peacock, the satirical novelist, lived on West Street too, and the two households were close. By early 1818 the Shelleys had left for Italy, never to return, but Marlow has claimed the connection ever since.

things to do sight historic house
A story
Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) lived at Albion House on West Street from early 1817 to early 1818. It was here that Mary, still only 19, completed and revised *Frankenstein*, while Percy worked on *The Revolt of Islam* and befriended Thomas Love Peacock who lived nearby. The novel was published anonymously in January 1818, just before the Shelleys left Marlow for Italy.