Marlow
Situated along the River Thames, the town of Marlow is full of historical charm with its old cottages, buildings and inns. Two of the most notable streets are West Street and the High Street. One of West Street's most prominent features is the Grammer School, founded in 1624 by Sir William Borlase. In one of the Gothic-style buildings it now uses, albion House, Mary Shelly wrote her great work Frankenstein in 1818. Further dow West Street are a number of other splendid Georgian houses from the 17 th and 18th centuries. The High Street is host to an equally impressive array of buildings, notably the old Post Office, Brompton House and the End House. The most impressive feature of the town is its suspension bridge built during the early 1830s of which a bigger version was built in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to span the Danube River.
Besides the bridge sit the 19 th century All Saints Church which is surrounded by a pleasant green around which lie several charming cottages. The noise of te nearby river adds to the atmosphere of the area. The church of St. Peter's set back from the High Street was built by the great architect, Pugin in 1848. The path at the bottom of the high Street goes along the river and towards Marlow Lock and Lock Island from where splendid views of the bridge and All Saints Church can be seen. Two other impressive buildings stand out. Marlow Place, an early 18 th century house, is situated at the end of the High Street and is fronted by a pediment supporton large pilasters of ribbed red brick. The old Parsonage, on the other hand, isa curious building incorporating building material from several centuries, the earliest from the 14 th century, during which its impressive hill was built.
Apart from its beautiful architecture Marlow is known fro two annual events, "Swan-Upping", during which swans between the City of London and Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire are caught and marked and its Amateur Regatta which occurs in June before the most serious and word famous regatta in Henley.