Slavery and the British Country House

By Madge Dresser and Andrew Hann (eds.)

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.

Contents

  1. Slave ownership and the British country house: the records of the Slave Compensation Commission as evidence - Nicholas Draper
  2. Slavery and West Country houses - Madge Dresser
  3. Rural retreats: Liverpool slave traders and their country houses - Jane Longmore
  4. Lodges, garden houses and villas: the urban periphery in the early modern Atlantic world - Roger H Leech
  5. Slavery's heritage footprint: links between British country houses and St Vincent, 1814-34 - Simon D Smith
  6. An open elite? Colonial commerce, the country house and the case of Sir Gilbert Heathcote and Normanton Hall - Nuala Zahedieh
  7. 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
  8. Atlantic slavery and classical culture at Marble Hill and Northington Grange - Laurence Brown
  9. Slavery and the sublime: the Atlantic trade, landscape aesthetics and tourism - Victoria Perry
  10. West Indian echoes: Dodington House, the Codrington family and the Caribbean heritage - Natalie Zacek
  11. Contesting the political legacy of slavery in England's country houses: a case study of Kenwood House and Osborne House - Caroline Bressey
  12. Representing the East and West India links to the British country house: the London borough of Bexley and the wider heritage picture - Cliff Pereira
  13. Reinterpretation: the representation of perspectives on slave trade history using creative media - Rob Mitchell and Shawn Sobers

Slavery and the British Country House

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Additional Information

  • Series: General History
  • Publication Status: Out of Print
  • Pages: 164
  • Product Code: 51552
  • ISBN: 9781848020641

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