A Level English Language and Literature students at Kingston College have been on some wonderful trips recently visiting the British Library to view the Treasures of the British Library where they were able to explore some of the world's most exciting, beautiful and significant books, maps and manuscripts in their permanent exhibition.
During their visit to the magnificent 18th Century Strawberry Hill House on the banks of the Thames in Twickenham, they learned about the founder of Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole. Walpole, the third son of Britain’s First Prime Minister, was a pivotal figure in 18th Century society, literature, art and architecture who transformed the site into a ‘little Gothic castle’ and who wrote the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, which was printed on his private printing press in the grounds, the first in the country.
A guided tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, on the banks of the river Thames in London, enabled the students to travel through over 400 years of fascinating history learning how the original 1599 theatre survived the plague, fire and political oppression.
