Dr Lucy Worsley Explores Celia Fiennes’s Remarkable 17th Century Tour of the Country

In the final episode of Harlots, Housewives and Heroines, Dr Lucy Worsley, historian and Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, introduces some of her 17th Century heroines, exploring the lives of a band of remarkable women, including writers, actresses, travellers and scientists. Against a backdrop of religious and political turmoil, the rise of print culture, the rapid growth of London and the country’s flourishing trading empire, Lucy meets female mavericks, like the actress Nell Gwyn and the playwright Aphra Behn, who took advantage of the extraordinary changes afoot to challenge the traditional male bastions of society. She begins with the story of the intrepid traveller Celia Fiennes, who unusually for a Restoration woman remained single and took advantage of her independence to travel the length and breadth of the country, covering an impressive 3,000 miles over the course of her lifetime.