Town's first non-royal woman statue unveiled

A town's first statue of a non-royal woman has been unveiled.

The life-size bronze of novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner has been installed in Dorchester, Dorset.

It is the work of charity Visible Women UK and artist Denise Dutton, who also created the Mary Anning statue in Lyme Regis.

Supporters gathered outside Gould's department store in South Street for the unveiling at 13:00 GMT on Sunday.

The charity crowdfunded for the statue and held a public vote about which notable woman should be immortalised.

Sylvia Townsend Warner lived from 1893 to 1978 and was a contemporary of Virginia Woolf.

She lived in Dorset with her long-term partner, Valentine Ackland, in the early 20th Century and was a trailblazer for lesbian visibility and acceptance at a time when same-sex relationships defied societal expectations.

She was a prolific writer and poet whose works included Lolly Willowes, The Corner That Held Them and Kingdoms of Elfin.

The £60,000 life-size statue depicts her sitting on a public bench, with a cat at her feet - a reference to Townsend Warner's love of felines.

The installation encountered a number of setbacks involving site restrictions, a sewage pipe and heavy rain.

Anya Pearson, of Visible Women, who also led the Mary Anning project, said she was relieved to see the project completed.

"There's not a guidebook on how to raise statues," she said.

"This is on a really busy shopping street at the busiest time of year. It's been much more stressful than Mary."