A King’s Cross love story

Almost 200 years ago Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft, famed for writing gothic novel Frankenstein, and romantic poet Percy Shelley declared their love for each other in St Pancras Gardens, in which lies St Pancras Old Church.

Following clandestine meetings at Wollstonecraft’s mother’s grave, the pair set off for France on 28 July 1814, returning to England later that year and setting up home at 5 Church Terrace, near or on the site of today’s St Pancras International station. Mary, who was born in Somers Town, was just 17 at the time and perhaps mirrors some of today’s young people who now use Eurostar, which is celebrating 20 years of operation this year, to run away for a summer of fun on the continent.