Mary Shelley and Frankenstein bronze plaque

This bronze commemorative plaque records: Mary Shelley and 'Frankenstein'. The novel 'Frankenstein' was written on this spot in 1816-17. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, aged 19, arrived in Bath in September 1816 and took lodgings here at 5 Abbey Church Yard. That house was demolished to make way for the Pump Room extension in the 1890s. She attended scientific lectures by Dr Wilkinson in the nearby Kingston Lecture Room. he suggested that one day electricity might be used to bring inanimate matter to life. this idea resonated with Mary, who had recently experienced nightmares in thunderstorms and inspired her to write 'Frankenstein'. Mary married the poet Percy Shelly in December 1816. When she left Bath early in 1817 much of the novel had been written. It was published anonymously in London in January 1818. Coincidentally there is now a vault beneath this sign containing an electricity sub-station that delivers thousands of volts to central Bath.

Mary Shelley, at age 19, wrote the seminal Gothic novel "Frankenstein" while residing in Bath; her work is historically important as it is considered one of the earliest examples of science fiction and has had a lasting impact on literature and culture.