Up to a third of National Trust’s historic homes have slave trade links

Heritage charity plans to keep controversial art and statues in place, framed by historical context

Almost a third of stately homes owned by the National Trust have links to slavery or colonialism, a report is expected to announce next month, as the heritage charity announced plans to keep most controversial objects on its sites to avoid “shutting down debate”.

It is unclear which pieces of art displaying racist undertones are to be removed from National Trust properties following the report into its collection’s imperial past, but Dyrham Park in Bristol is to place a critical poem in front of a pair of 17th-century sculptures of African men kneeling in chains.

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