In 2018 the Civic Society committee commissioned the Margery Kempe bench to acknowledge the life of that remarkable Lynn woman whose book, when rediscovered in the 1930s, astonished the literary and religious world. It is recognised as the first autobiography written in English.
The new bench was made by local craftsman, Toby Winteringham, whose patience was an example, his skill obvious in his work, and Charlotte Howarth cut the beautiful lettering. It reads:
1373 . Margery Kempe . 1440
Author . Pilgrim . Mystic
On August 12 2021 we celebrated another unique writing woman born in Lynn in 1752 in the same way. This is Frances Burney, known as Fanny. She knew the busy town of Lynn intimately. Her novel, Evelina, written in 1788 was an immediate bestseller and for the first time a woman was celebrated as a great writer. She wrote novels, plays and a diary spanning her long and interesting lifetime. Writers who followed, from the Brontës and Jane Austen, based their work on her idea of the courtship novel. Fanny Burney was “the mother of English fiction.”
Again, Toby Winteringham made the bench, and Charlotte Howarth cut the beautiful lettering. It reads:
1752 . Fanny Burney . 1840
Novelist . Playwright . Diarist
Cllr. Harry Humphries, The Mayor of the Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, cut the ribbon and we had about 30 guests seated on the Saturday Market Place. Committee members made sandwiches and cake and we raised a glass of prosecco to celebrate.
Now these two benches provide a resting place for visitors to enjoy the fine views of the Town Hall and The Minster. They are sat on all the time.
< Back to projects