Wednesday 17 August 2022 01:43 PM Welsh mansion beloved by Shelley unearthed for first time in generations trends now

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A Welsh mansion beloved by Romantic poet Shelley which was submerged under a reservoir for more than 100 years has been unearthed for the first time in decades due to the UK-wide drought.   

Key remnants of the manor house in Elan Valley have been spotted including foundations where Shelley wrote during his visits and the garden walls where he and his teenage wife Harriet used to walk. 

When he was just 18, Shelley walked 250 miles from his family estate in Sussex to the stately home in Wales after he was invited by his uncle to stay. 

The 19th-century wordsmith was infatuated with the abode's oak staircase and was desperate to buy it with his young partner in 1812. 

Ten years later, just before his 30th birthday, the English-poet drowned after capsizing into the Bay of Lerici off the north-west coast of Italy. 

In his letters from the time he spoke of his love for the countryside around the now-flooded valley.  

Shelley wrote: 'Rocks piled on each other to tremendous heights, rivers formed into cataracts by their projections, and valleys clothed with woods, present an appearance of enchantment.'

'This country is highly romantic; here are rocks of uncommon height and picturesque waterfalls. I am more astonished at the grandeur of the scenery than I expected.'

'I am not wholly uninfluenced by its magic on my lonely walks.'