A stately home near Grantham is one of Lincolnshire locations have links to the slave trade, according to a new report by Historic England.
Little Ponton Hall, home of the McCorquodale family for the past century, is included in the report by Dr Mary Wills and Dr Madge Dresser entitled ‘The Transatlantic Slave Economy and England’s Built Environment: A Research Audit’.
The research was conducted between April and July 2020 during the nationwide closure of public buildings, caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The research says: “recent events associated with the Black Lives Matter movement serve as a potent reminder of how this history of exploiting human life for profits permeates many aspects of English history.”
It considers how the money was made and spent, and other consequences on the built environment.
The challenge for historians, heritage bodies, and local and community researchers, has been to identify and recontextualise remnants of England’s slavery past found in its buildings, houses, streets, industrial heritage, urban fabrics and rural landscapes. However, much remains to be uncovered.
It looked at historical records showing individuals and businesses who claimed for compensation for loss of their enslaved workers when slavery was abolished in the British Caribbean on 1 August 1834.
The report comes after Black Lives Matter protests were held across the globe last year, including in Lincoln and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.
The report includes other Lincolnshire sites at, Blankney, Burghley House, and Woodhall Spa are all
Little Ponton Hall in Grantham is associated in the mid-19th century with Vere Fane, a London banker and partner at Praeds and Company, awarded compensation for estates in Jamaica and Grenada jointly with his brother-in-law Rev. Henry Chaplin.
He also inherited East India stocks from his father, Henry Fane. His daughter Emily married Colonel Edward Birch Reynardson and they lived at the Hall.
Present occupants, the McCorquodale family, have no connection.
Little Ponton Hall’s grounds have become a popular attraction for its gardens, especially the spring snowdrops.
Sir John Hayes, Conservative MP for South Holland and The Deepings has hit out at the report and questioned why £15,000 was spent doing it.
He told BBC Radio Lincolnshire: “You have to ask yourself the question, why? What’s the purpose of that and why on earth spend £15,000 of tax payers money doing it?
“I first thought it should be shelved, I now think it should be shredded. It has no use whatsoever and it’s an indecent organisation that needs to be brought to order.”
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