The Statue of Mary Anning is a bronze sculpture of the paleontologist Mary Anning in Lyme Regis.

Statue of Mary Anning
The statue of Mary Anning
Artist	Denise Dutton
Year	21 May 2022 (2022-05-21)
Type	bronze
Location	Lyme Regis
Coordinates	50°43′30.9216″N 2°55′49.4220″W

Inception and campaign

In August 2018, a campaign called "Mary Anning Rocks" was formed by an 11-year-old school girl from Dorset, Evie Swire, supported by her mother Anya Pearson.[1]

The campaign, in promoting a monument to a 19th century women scientist, aimed to highlight the bias in the number of UK statues of men rather than women (more than 85% men).[2] Prior to the erection of Mary's statue in May 2022, there were three other statues to a woman in the Southwest of England; the 2019 statue of Nancy Astor in Plymouth, and the 1888 Statue of Queen Victoria in Bristol and the 1902 Statue of Queen Victoria in Weymouth.[2]

Plans for launching the crowdfunding part of the campaign in May 2020 were placed on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, with the Mary Anning Rocks group selling t-shirts instead.[3] In November 2020 the delayed public crowdfunding campaign was launched to raise the money to commission a statue of Mary Anning for her home town of Lyme Regis.[4]

Patrons and supporters of the campaign include Professor Alice Roberts, Sir David Attenborough and novelist Tracy Chevalier.[5]

The statue

In January 2021 the campaign had raised over £70,000, enough for the sculpture to be produced by sculptor Denise Dutton.[6][7] She produced a maquette of the piece, which was publicly displayed at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis on 22 May 2021, Anning's 222nd Birthday.[8]

Planning permission for the statue, at a site overlooking Black Ven (where Mary made many of her discoveries), was lodged in November 2021[9] and granted by Dorset Council in January 2022.[10] The site is at the junction of Long Entry and Gun Cliff Walk in Lyme Regis.

• 
  Front view
• 
  Detail
• 
  Mary Anning Rocks campaign logo
• 
  Inscription

Unveiling

The statue was publicly unveiled by Evie Swire and Alice Roberts on 21 May 2022, the 223rd anniversary of Anning's birth.[11][12] The event was attended by hundreds of supporters including Tracy Chevalier, Hugh Torrens, Anjana Khatwa, Dean Lomax, and Tori Herridge.[13] The actress Lizzie Hopley performed as Mary Anning herself.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Anning's statue, Lyme Regis.

• Video of the unveiling of the statue on 22 May 2022