Mary Anning Rocks
ive years ago, a dorset schoolgirl called Evie Swire asked why Lyme Regis did not have a statue of and in the 2020 romantic-drama a film starring Kate Winslet as Mary and Saoirse Ronan as Charlotte Murchison. Anning was never fully credited for her discoveries by other palaeontologists in her lifetime, due to her sex and social status, despite being the first person to find a complete plesiosaurus in 1823. But schoolgirl Evie’s question sparked a hugely popular campaign, called , and now the town has its very own seafront memorial to the palaeontologist, created by artist Denise Dutton and unveiled by Professor Alice Roberts this year, on what would have been Anning’s 223rd birthday.
