Trust s report detailed links between 93 properties and slavery and colonialism
Winston Churchill s former home, Chartwell, in Kent, was on the list
Move prompted a fierce backlash and the trust faced accusations of wokeism
But Charity Commission today cleared it of breaking charity law
Brexiteer Nigel Farage said he had become increasingly appalled by the trust
Historian Simon Heffer said he was astonished the trust had not been censured
The academic behind the National Trust s Woke review to identify properties with links to colonialism today astonishingly accused the government of weaponising history by trying to stop Left-wing academics denigrating Britain s past.
The study, which blacklisted - among others - the Lake District home of avid anti-slaver William Wordsworth because his brother was involved in the trade, was accused of re-writing history after assembling a team of left-wing and politically biased experts.
Its leader, Professor Corinne Fowler, spoke today as Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden prepared to use a meeting with 25 heritage organisations to urge them to adopt a rounded view of Britain s past that does not focus excessively on the empire.
Let’s not weaponise history: let’s talk about shared histories across generations, cultures and political divides
Telling history is not a response to current affairs. Thousands of historians have researched it painstakingly across generations
7 February 2021 • 7:00am
For years now, the 8th Earl of Harewood has talked about the fact that Harewood House was purchased with the profits of the slavery business. He recently told Radio 4’s
Front Row: This is something we have been investigating for 20 years or more , and added, the stories about all of these houses are really interesting.
He is right that the history is interesting. The Welsh historian, Marian Gwyn, researched the history of Penrhyn Castle for even longer. The Pennants of Penrhyn financed their estate, local roads and Bangor port with wealth from Denbigh sugar plantations.
The project was carried out by University of Leicester with National Trust funds
It received a grant of £99,600 from the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund through the National Trust and a further £60,000 from the Arts Council
The project linked almost 100 National Trust properties to British colonialism
A group of Tory MPs have written to Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden for an explanation to why the project was given the funds
Does this look unpleasant ? Academic signed up by the National Trust to lecture us on the evils behind our most glorious estates says GARDENING has its roots in racial injustice
Professor of Post-Colonial Literature at University of Leicester, published work examining links between British countryside, racism, slavery and colonial past
Claimed cherished national pastime of gardening had roots in racial injustic
At the centre of the ‘culture war’ within National Trust after ‘outed’ many of the properties belonging for their links to slavery and Britain’s colonial past.