A monument to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, created by the sculptor Henry Weekes, was erected in the Priory church by the poet's son in 1854, thirty-two years after his father's death. This monument was first offered to St Peter's Church, six miles away in Bournemouth, where Mary Shelley and other family members are buried. However, it was declined because of its size and possibly due to the unspoken disapproval of Shelley's reputation by the incumbent and churchwardens.