…and Gothic fantasies within a Gothic fantasy.

Horace Walpole’s 1764 novel “The Castle of Otrantoâ€� is claimed to be the first Gothic novel and may well be the first horror novel. Walpole’s home, Strawberry Hill House, (Waldegrave Road, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, London) was in his possession at the time of its writing. Walpole directed the major changes between 1747 and 1792 transforming it into ‘a little Gothic castle’ and, possibly, his dream of Castle Otranto. Later Strawberry Hill Station was built nearby because the political luminaries of the 1870’s were regular visitors to the house. (more…)