The Retreat at Elcot Park was once home to the family of famous Romantic poet Percy Shelley.
On Monday April 17th the beautifully re-imagined hotel hosts the first night of their new play, telling his extraordinary life story.
A short play by Newbury Dramatic Society, exploring the life of the great Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who has a family connection to Elcot Park… his mother, sisters and other relatives lived here at Elcot Park during the 19th century.
Newbury Dramatic Society has written this superb play especially for The Retreat, having previously staged impressive dramatic depictions of the lives of other famous writers such as Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling.Â
Shelley’s extraordinary and fascinating life is explored in detail in this one hour play.
THE HISTORY
There is a long, rich history behind The Retreat at Elcot Park. In 1772, Anthony Bushby Bacon purchased the Elcot Park estate from Charles Dundas, The First Baron of Amesbury – known as Lord Amesbury.
Dundas was a politician and a member of parliament from 1781 – 1832, and represented Berkshire for ten successive parliaments between 1794 and 1832.
The house was built in 1817 by Anthony Bushby Bacon, the son of a wealthy Welsh industrialist.
After passing through the Bacon family, the country house was purchased by Lady Shelley, the mother of the great poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Lady Shelley bought the home in 1844, 22 years after Percy’s tragic death, but his widow, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, did occasionally stay there.
The property was later purchased by Sir Richard Vincent Sutton, the sixth baronet of Norwood Park, before it went on to be transformed into the luxurious hotel you see today.
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