Heatwave reveals Elan Valley mansion Shelley loved

Shelley fell in love with Nantgwyllt House and the surrounding countryside

A romantic mansion beloved by poet Shelley has been revealed for the first time in decades by the recent heatwave.

Nantgwyllt House has been underwater since part of the Elan Valley was flooded to make a reservoir in 1903.

However the Powys reservoir has begun giving up its secrets as water levels fall due to the prolonged dry weather.

Now visible are the foundations and garden walls of the mansion where Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote during his stays and wanted to buy for his wife in 1812.

Shelley was 18 when he was first invited by his uncle to stay and chose to walk to mid Wales all the way from the family estate in Sussex.

'Astonished at the grandeur'

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

Falling water levels have revealed the foundations for the first time in decades

"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," he wrote.

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"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."

Shelley sought to buy the mansion house where he often wrote during visits

Shelley left a memento to himself, inscribing his name and the date into a glass window pane with a diamond ring. He wanted to move there to start married life with his teenage wife Harriet, but could not agree a lease.

Instead, the large manor house was later taken over by engineers making the Caban Coch reservoir in 1903. It was one of a series to supply enough water for 500,000 people in Birmingham.

The mansion was demolished before the completion of the dams, although the garden walls, stone bridges and footprints remain.

Caban Coch is one of four dams along the Elan river

Walker Martin Thomas said: "It is incredible to see it emerge from under all that water. It must have been an incredible place to stay if someone like Shelley loved it so much.

"It is so rare to see the water so low because of the drought.

"It is beautiful here but just in a different way now."

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