(1769-1853)
I love statues high up and slightly hidden from our usual horizontal gaze. You have to look closely to find them. Sometimes you just catch an unexpected glimpse and you can be pleased with yourself for spotting the unusual and less ordinary.
Born, raised and buried in Norwich, Amelia Opie was a radical, philanthropist, poet and novelist. Author of more than a dozen novels, she is perhaps best known for ‘Adeline Mowbray’ (1804). She was associated with William Godwin, Sarah Siddons (she has a statue) and Mary Wollstonecraft (she kind of has a statue) and some of her writing involves Godwin’s and Wollstonecraft’s unconventional lifestyle. Opie was also a leading abolitionist in Norwich and she was the first of 187,000 women to present a petition to Parliament calling for the end of slavery.
The statue depicts her in Quaker dress, originally carved in wood and later in stone. It sits above 6 Opie Street – currently a gelato shop. I can only hope she has an ice cream named after her.
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