DORCHESTER'S first non-royal female statue has been unveiled by best-selling author Tracy Chevalier.

The life-sized statue of Sylvia Townsend Warner - a feminist Dorset writer who was an LGBTQ pioneer in her day was revealed today (

The charity behind the statue, Visible Women UK, said the author was remarkable but had been "overshadowed" by famous Dorset writers like Thomas Hardy and William Barnes.

An application for a statue to Sylvia Townsend Warner, with an information board explaining her contribution to society, was lodged with Dorset Council for a site outside Goulds fashion store.

It has been proposed by Dorchester Civic Society on the site of the most northerly public bench in the area.

The statue, made from cast bronze and mounted on a square bronze metal plate appears to be sat on a new bench. A cat is at the statue's feet, a reference to Townsend-Warner's love of cats, the animal figure modelled on Dorchester's famous Susie the Cat.

The writer last year won a public poll of women from the area who have been overlooked by history.