Commemorating Women in Public Spaces

Summary

In the Englishes, our research on literature, gender, commemoration and heritage has fed into a series of projects that look at how women have been commemorated in public spaces. In particular, we address inequalities around how women’s achievements have been commemorated in the UK landscape.

Part of the inVISIBLEwomen network, Claudine van Hensbergen has led on commemorative plaque projects, produced new research to inform our understanding of Poets’ Corner, and supervised a number of PhDs that explore the relationship between women and the UK’s art collections. This has brought her into dialogue with artists, musicians, schools, and a range of institutions from the Arts and Heritage-sectors. They are together, exploring how we can write women’s inspirational achievements back into our public spaces.

Monika Smialkowska’s research on Shakespeare’s afterlives brought her into collaboration with the ‘Shakey Gardeners’, a group of volunteers in Manchester who have restored the city’s 1923 Shakespeare Garden at Platt Fields. This led to a re-discovery of a largely forgotten turn-of-the-century scholar, suffragist, and social activist, Rosa Grindon (1848-1923), who is now being remembered – through plays, festivals and murals – as an inspiring and forward-thinking force, whose contribution to social, environmental and educational causes was pioneering.

Research team

Highlights

Statue of Aphra Behn

Claudine’s research on portraits of the first professional woman writer, Aphra Behn, informed the design of the statue of Behn recently unveiled by HRH The Queen in Canterbury, Kent (February 2025).

Rosa Griondon mural

In 2024, a new mural of Rosa Grindon was unveiled, commissioned for Manchester’s Fallowfield neighbourhood from artist Ethan Lemon. Monika was invited to write accompanying information about Grindon. This is available through the Friends of Platts Fields.

Commemorative Plaque for Mary Astell

On International Women’s Day 2023, Claudine and Daisy Winter hosted a ‘Working with Women’ showcase at Newcastle Cathedral. This event celebrated the unveiling of a new commemorative plaque for Mary Astell (1666-1731), ‘the first English feminist’.

Commemorating Mary Astell, Plaque Unveiling booklet

A song for Mary Astell

The Astell plaque’s unveiling inspired local band, Howay the Lasses, to write a new song called Mary Astell celebrating her life and link to the city. They went on to perform this on BBC’s Sunday Morning Live in June 2024.

Launch of Inspiring North East Women

Claudine and Daisy launched a new regional network, Inspiring North East Women (INEW), to support ongoing dialogue in the NE to improve public access and awareness of women’s histories, inspiring and promoting the interests, and outcomes, of new generations of women in 2023.

Public lecture about Rosa Grindon

In 2023, Monika delivered a public lecture about Rosa Grindon, explaining ‘How Manchester Made Shakespeare Modern’. This was held at Manchester Central Library and was accompanied by an exhibition.

Report on Newcastle’s statue of Dame Eleanor Allan

Dr. Simon Buck was commissioned to produce a report on Newcastle’s statue of Dame Eleanor Allan (d.1708). This is the city’s only statue of a non-royal historic woman, and is found on our campus, in a niche on College House.

Report on the statue to Dame Eleanor Allan on College House, City Campus by Dr Simon Buck

Talk about Rosa Grindon

Monika gave an open-air talk about Rosa Grindon at the Platt Fields Shakespeare Garden’s official re-inauguration in August 2022. The Lord Mayor of Manchesteropened the event, and featured a promenade performance of the play A Rosa by Any Other Name.

Workshop, ‘Women and Sculpture’

Claudine organised a workshop ‘Women and Sculpture: New Histories & Futures’, at the Laing Art Gallery in June 2022. This brought together academics with speakers from The National Trust, The Henry Moore Institute and English Heritage. It featured a roundtable with leads from UK campaigns for statues of Mary Anning (Lyme Regis), Aphra Behn (Canterbury), Elsie Inglis (Edinburgh).

A video of Claudine’s external-facing workshop at the Laing Art Gallery, June 2022. The video is 8 minutes long.

Images

Partners and Sponsors

Project classification

Commemorating Women in Public Spaces is an English project. It belongs to the following research clusters:

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