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A talk entitled 'A Difficult Truth' will be given at Gatesbield by Ann Morgan at on Saturday, 20th April. Ann is a co-clerk of the Reparations Working Group set up by British Quakers in 2023. The talk will provide an opportunity to hear of the Ann’s research into the involvement of Quakers from the Lancaster area in the Transatlantic Chattel Slave Trade and their ownership of enslaved Africans on plantations during the 18th century. This history includes Quakers from the Hawkshead and Ulverston areas who moved to Lancaster and two Quakers from elsewhere who supplied the trade with “instruments of war”.
Using the histories of these Friends and their families, she will show how  slavery provided wealth in Britain to support the development and expansion of the British industrial revolution; how it rooted attitudes of racism in British society; how it is not just a matter of history but contributed significantly to making British society what it is today.

We are pleased to announce that we will be opening our Gardens to the public on Saturday 18th May from 1 to 4pm.

News items from the archive