Join us on International Women’s Day as David Brooks of Bourne Hall Museum takes you on a walk around Epsom town centre and tells you stories of the famous and infamous women of Epsom. From Duchesses and ladies to Spice Girls, women who have turned men’s world upside down.
On the walk you will see where Nell Gwyn, orange seller and royal mistress lived; hear how the country’s first Post-Woman Nora Willis turned heads in 1915, and later becoming Epsom & Ewell’s first female councillor; see where Mrs Beeton, the first celebrity chef and author of “The Book of Household Management” lived and hear how her passion was more for clothes then cooking!
You will also discover other women of Epsom who built Alms houses, founded a college, a school, helped the poor and built a church. You will hear the tale of Mrs Mapp, the bonesetter, who local shopkeepers tried to pay to stay in Epsom and Phyllis Dixey the woman the Lord Chamberlain could not ban, among many others.
Most famous of all of course is the suffragette Emily Wilding Davison. During the walk you will visit where her body laid, waiting for the train to London and finally home to Northumberland. You will see the roof top of the station, now hidden behind shops, where on Saturday 14th June, 1913, Emily’s body started the long, 315 mile journey from Epsom to St. Mary Virgin Church, Morpeth. You will also visit the site of the magistrate court where her inquest was held and where Emmeline Pankhurst was jailed for her part in the bombing of Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George in Walton on the Hill. Finally, we will visit the site where the Emily Davison Memorial Statue will be situated.
The Walk will last for 2 hours and will be on pavements.
Meeting outside of Guitar Guitar, Church St, Epsom KT17 4NY
Start time 2:30pm, Cost £8 To Book CLICK HERE
Half the proceeds from the walk will go to the Emily Davison Memorial Project to erect a permanent statue of the woman who died campaigning for Votes For Women.