Heritage Open Days: Worthy Women

Five of Bungay's Worthy Women of the last Millennium

Throughout Bungay's history, women have played a vital role in shaping the town and its surrounding communities, while making an enduring contribution to the welfare and lives of its people.

This exhibition celebrates just five of the women from the last millennium who made a particularly interesting contribution.

The five women featured in this exhibition are:

Gundred De Beautont, an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and the founder of Bungay Priory, a Benedictine nunnery.

Lavinia Cross, known as Mother Lavinia, was an English Anglican religious sister and social reformer renowned for founding the Community of All Hallows, Ditchingham, one of the earliest Anglican sisterhoods dedicated to charitable works in 19th-century

Lilias Rider Haggard was awarded an MBE in 1920 for her work as a Voluntary Aid Detachment auxiliary nurse during the First World War. She was a member of Norfolk County Council from 1949 to 1952, and in 1953, was elected president of the Norfolk Rural Craftsmen's Guild.

Elizabeth Bonhote was an English novelist, essayist, and poet. Her most successful work was Bungay Castle, a Gothic romance written after her husband had bought the ruins of the real Bungay Castle. She also founded almshouses for elderly women and the widows of poor traders.

Nurse Marjorie Britain arrived in Bungay around 1920 and worked as a nurse and midwife for around 30 years, supervising the home delivery of hundreds of babies. In the early 1920s, she started ‘Bungay Baby’ week as part of a national campaign to improve knowledge of the feeding and rearing of infants. She served on a national committee for infant welfare.

The exhibits will be on the ground floor and in the council chamber. As well as the exhibits, this will be an opportunity for the public to see the historic council chamber.

Please note Bungay Town Hall is wheelchair accessible on the ground floor but not on the upper floors.