Women, Talent & Power - A Victorian Walking Tour of Bonchurch

Every woman discussed on this tour had an abundance of talent. The question asked is a simple one: what happened when the men around them permitted that talent to flourish, and what happened when they didn't?

The answers, as we shall see, range from the triumphant to the tyrannical. Women of extraordinary ability were celebrated, suppressed, dismissed, forbidden to earn their own living, and, in one case, written off by their own father as someone who would never make a success of anything. The men who wielded that power — some famous, some forgotten — did not always emerge with credit. The women, more often than not, did!

We will walk through the village of Bonchurch across two periods of Victorian life, meeting women who performed before Queen Victoria, painted canvases that stopped exhibition crowds, wrote poetry that nearly won the laureateship, played piano to concert standard, created a celestial garden, and in one case crossed the Solent with a sheaf of red roses for a dead poet she loved. Some were celebrated in their lifetimes. Some were suppressed. Some were simply taken too soon.

The village holds all of their stories.

The Details

• 📍 Start: The Pitts, at the access, at Bonchurch Shute, Bonchurch PO38 1NU 

• SZ576781 Grid Reference

• 🏁 Finish: Bonchurch Historic Church, Bonchurch

• SZ577780 Grid Reference

• ⏱ Duration: 2.5 - 3 hours

• 📏 Distance: 1 miles

• 💷 Price: £20 per person

• 👥 Maximum 11 places

• 🥾 Grade: Moderate — some slopes, steps and stiles. Good walking footwear is recommended

Reserve your place through Eventbrite.

Please note that your place is reserved but not confirmed until payment of £20 per person has been received. Contact Sue at questions@suelowday.co.uk. 

Places are limited,  your place is reserved for 3 days until payment has been made, after which time your place will be released