A stunning new bronze statue of a trailblazing 17th century author has been unveiled ahead of its official installation in Canterbury.

Fresh from the foundry is the figure of Aphra Behn, who was born in Harbledown in 1640 and is credited with being Britain’s first-ever professional female writer.

The work - standing at 5ft 10in and weighing 350kg - was commissioned by the Canterbury Commemoration Society which says her extraordinary contribution has been “shamefully neglected”.

But now the pioneering writer will take pride of place outside the city’s Beaney Museum.

“It will really be the exciting culmination of a project to establish a proper tribute to this remarkable woman and I can’t wait to see it in our high street where it can be fully appreciated,” said society chairman Stewart Ross.

Behn grew up in Canterbury, leaving the city for London aged 17 where she would become a Royalist spy before embarking on her remarkable literary career.

Writing for the stage, her 19 plays between 1670 and 1690 made her the most prolific dramatist of the period.

Some of her plays had a political slant which defended Charles II’s government.

Unusually for a woman of that time, Behn was associated with free-thinking and gained further fame for penning erotic poetry.

But by 1688, she was facing a range of troubles. She feared the Stuart regime she had so fervently backed could soon be toppled.

Beset by poverty and debt she began to work even more frantically. Her output included Oroonoko - a tragic tale of slavery and nobility with a particularly grisly ending, which she penned in 1688.

Among several other candidates, Oroonoko has been said to be the first-ever novel written in English. It pre-dates Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe - often cited as the original novel. But at 77 pages is perhaps too short to claim the title.

After the prodigious efforts of her final few years, Aphra died on April 16, 1689, at the age of 48. She was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey.

Over the centuries she has been praised by literary figures - particularly the female authors who followed her lead.

Virginia Woolf described her as the first English woman to earn her living by writing.

She said: “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

The idea of a statue in her memory in Canterbury was first raised in 2021 by the CCS, which launched a fundraising appeal in June of that year.

It culminated with £75,000 being raised from hundreds of supporters, including generous donations by local benefactors Paul Abbott and Paul Roberts.

A competition to find a sculpture and design was held, with the entries whittled down to four finalists following a public vote.

They were asked to produce scale models of their designs for the final judging.

The vote went to sculptor Christine Charlesworth whose work has now been created in the foundry.

“We hope to have it installed by June but there is a lot of groundwork to do to ensure the 350kg statue can be properly secured in place, and we are reliant on the city council, “said Mr Ross.

The Canterbury Commemorative Society is responsible for numerous heritage projects in the city, including the statues of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha in Lady Woottons Green, installed in 2007, and the statue of Geoffrey Chaucer, erected in the high street in 2016.

In a separate project, the charity is now working with world-renowned sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor whose early work includes the Alluvia statues which lie on the bed of the River Stour beside the Westgate Towers which he has offered to raise, clean, repair and re-install.

To support projects led by the society, visit www.cantcommsoc.co.uk