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Revealed: the darkness behind the beauty of Britain's great houses
Sep 22, 2020
LONDON (Reuters) - Feted for their fine architecture and often used as lavish backdrops for period movies, Britain’s great estates came under the spotlight on Tuesday for a darker reason: their links to colonialism or slavery.
FILE PHOTO: St Michael's Tower is seen on Glastonbury Tor as a full moon rises in Glastonbury, England January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
The National Trust, which runs some 300 heritage buildings, said about a third of them had past owners who had profited from slavery, opposed its abolition, been involved in colonial expansion or administration or promoted imperialism.
“These histories are sometimes very painful and difficult to consider,” it said in a report. “They make us question our assumptions about the past, and yet they can also deepen and enrich our understanding.”
The National Trust is a household name in Britain and promotes the properties it manages in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as family days out.
But like other British institutions from Lloyd’s of London to Oxford University, the trust was jolted by this year’s wave of anti-racism protests into a reckoning with the past that has led to statues being toppled and legacies debated.
The trust said its 115-page report, which was not exhaustive, would be used to ensure that links to colonialism and slavery were properly explained at relevant places.
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