Historic England report highlights Kent's links with the transatlantic slave trade
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Updated: 13:35, 09 February 2021
A sweeping report into the nation's links to the transatlantic slavery economy has identified a number of connections with Kent.
The research carried out for Historic England, a public body tasked with preserving buildings and monuments, mentions Mote House in Maidstone as a property linked to a family with sugar plantations in the Caribbean.
Mote House in Maidstone. Picture: Golley Slater
Many other links to this dark chapter in our national story emerged as a result of the county's maritime and industrial heritage.
Entitled The Transatlantic Slave Economy and England's Built Environment, the report notes how vessels constructed in shipyards at Folkestone and Gravesend were engaged directly in Atlantic slavery or in shipping goods produced by enslaved labour.