While we’re experiencing issues with our online admissions for Dove Cottage and Museum, please contact us by phone on 015394 35544 or by email at enquiries@wordsworth.org.uk to enquire about booking. Our special events can still be booked through the site as normal.

Venture into the fateful night that inspired one of the world’s greatest Gothic tales: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

7 July 2026 – 19 June 2027

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Beginning with the reimagined bedroom of Mary Shelley, step into a spellbinding world of moonlit woods, haunting seas and waking dreams.

See rare books, manuscripts and treasures from famous Gothic writers including Lord Byron, Emily Brontë, John Polidori and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Drawing upon some of the most iconic works of Gothic literature, this immersive exhibition explores the uncanny stories and fantastical ideas that laid the foundations for modern horror and fantasy fiction.

The night that created Frankenstein: Major Gothic exhibition opening at Wordsworth Grasmere

The night that created Frankenstein: Major Gothic exhibition opening at Wordsworth Grasmere

At a moment when Gothic stories continue to captivate audiences across film, television and literature – including recent adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein – Wordsworth Grasmere presents a major new exhibition exploring the origins of the Gothic imagination. Bringing together rare books, manuscripts and treasures from Wordsworth Grasmere’s internationally significant collection, including a first edition of Frankenstein, Ghost Story! Into the Gothic Imagination explores the beginnings of the haunting stories and fantastical ideas that laid the foundations for modern horror and fantasy fiction. Opening…
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Ghost Story! Into the Gothic Imagination Events