Slavery and the British Country House

By Madge Dresser and Andrew Hann (eds.)

Published 31 July 2013

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Slavery and the British Country House
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The British country house has long been regarded as the jewel in the nation's heritage crown. But the country house is also an expression of wealth and power, and as scholars reconsider the nation's colonial past, new questions are being posed about these great houses and their links to Atlantic slavery.

This book, authored by a range of academics and heritage professionals, grew out of a 2009 conference on 'Slavery and the British Country house: mapping the current research' organised by English Heritage in partnership with the University of the West of England, the National Trust and the Economic History Society. It asks what links might be established between the wealth derived from slavery and the British country house and what implications such links should have for the way such properties are represented to the public today.

Based on the latest scholarship, this wide-ranging and innovative volume provides in-depth examinations of individual houses, regional studies and critical reconsiderations of existing heritage sites, including two studies specially commissioned by English Heritage and one sponsored by the National Trust.

In order to improve access to this research, a complete copy of the text is free to download from the PDF link above.

Slave ownership and the British country house: the records of the Slave Compensation Commission as evidence - Nicholas Draper
Slavery and West Country houses - Madge Dresser
Rural retreats: Liverpool slave traders and their country houses - Jane Longmore
Lodges, garden houses and villas: the urban periphery in the early modern Atlantic world - Roger H Leech
Slavery's heritage footprint: links between British country houses and St Vincent, 1814-34 - Simon D Smith
An open elite? Colonial commerce, the country house and the case of Sir Gilbert Heathcote and Normanton Hall - Nuala Zahedieh
Property, power and authority: the implicit and explicit slavery connections of Bolsover Castle and Brodsworth Hall in the 18th century - Sheryllynne Haggerty and Susanne Seymour
Atlantic slavery and classical culture at Marble Hill and Northington Grange - Laurence Brown
Slavery and the sublime: the Atlantic trade, landscape aesthetics and tourism - Victoria Perry
West Indian echoes: Dodington House, the Codrington family and the Caribbean heritage - Natalie Zacek
Contesting the political legacy of slavery in England's country houses: a case study of Kenwood House and Osborne House - Caroline Bressey
Representing the East and West India links to the British country house: the London borough of Bexley and the wider heritage picture - Cliff Pereira
Reinterpretation: the representation of perspectives on slave trade history using creative media - Rob Mitchell and Shawn Sobers