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Horace Walpole, the 4th Earl of Orford is to be remembered for his contributions to gothic literature and architecture during his life in the 18th Century. He was the youngest son of an English Prime Minister. At the age of 30, Walpole acquired a modest house near Twickenham on Strawberry Hill, and declared his intention to transform it into ‘a little Gothic castle.’ Over the course of the next 45 years, the edifice doubled in size with the addition of towers and battlements, while stained glass and climbing vines added to its eventual reputation as the finest example of mansions in the Georgian Gothic style. The grounds of Strawberry Hill increased from 5 to 46 acres. During this time, Walpole wrote and
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published The Castle of Otronto, the first gothic novel, which gave birth to a literary genre that branched, mutated and flowered in works including those by Bram Stoker through Stephen King. The Castle of Otronto is a work of unrepressesed imagination, in which ghosts and other inexplicably bizarre phenomena strike terror into a family beset by murderous intrigue and ancient prophecies. Walpole’s castle, Strawberry Hill House served as an inspiration for The Castle of Otronto. Although the furnishings with which Horace Walpole filled his dream castle are now gone, the edifice can be toured, and it is now a part of Surrey University.
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