THE National Trust has a record of wokery as long as your arm. If there’s a leftie cause, the NT is on it.
In 2017, the Trust attempted to make all staff and volunteers at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk wear LGBTQ+ badges, after outing the Hall’s late owner (who bequeathed the property to the Trust) as gay. A full programme of events this year included ‘House Proud at Hatchlands Park, Surrey’ on September 10, tickets from £10. The blurb stated: ‘House Proud returns to its home at Hatchlands Park for a fourth year for another fabulous evening of untold stories. Revel in the queer ecology found in the park itself and enjoy an evening of music, song and performances . . . hosted by our local drag star That Girl.’ I do recommend the page on the website.
Naturally the NT has a front seat on the climate change bandwagon. Its website says: ‘Climate change is the biggest threat to the coastline, countryside and historic buildings we care for . . . If urgent and large-scale action isn’t taken to address climate change, we predict that more than 70 per cent of the places in our care will be at medium or high risk of climate-related hazards by 2060.’ There are screeds of articles on the topic if you are interested.
One of the Trust’s main preoccupations is slavery; it has identified 93 historic places in its care with links to the trade, and work is continuing to find more. (It’s a bit of a dilemma for the Trust that it is charged with preserving mansions built on such evil foundations. Should it not be campaigning to have them demolished?)
The Trust dropped the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter from its 2024 ‘inclusivity and wellbeing’ calendar, while giving the dates for the Hindu festival of Diwali and the Muslim festivals of Eid and Ramadan. (Other events flagged up included Transgender Awareness Week, Black History Month and LGBT+ History Month.) After complaints, a spokesman said: ‘This internal guidance is specifically designed to supplement the National Trust’s year-round programming that includes Christmas and Easter, which are national public holidays and which are celebrated at all properties. It enables our teams to mark more religious and cultural festivals, to serve local communities and allow everyone to learn about and enjoy different cultures. The National Trust is for everyone.’
Now it has gone a step further in shunning Christianity by refusing permission for filming for a documentary with a Christian theme at one of its sites, saying: ‘We will not be able to host your filming due to its religious affiliation.’
The site in question is St Cuthbert’s Cave near Belford in Northumberland. It is at the bottom of a massive outcrop of sandstone 60ft high, apparently supported by one slender rock pillar. (Nothing on earth would make me go into it, but many people do.)
According to legend, St Cuthbert died on Lindisfarne in AD 687, and his remains were removed to the cave, known locally as Cuddy’s Cave, in AD 875 to prevent desecration by Vikings. (The relics are now in Durham Cathedral.)
The 13-acre site, largely wooded with Scots pine, was acquired in the 19th century by the Leather family of Belford. In a slightly unusual move, the area was consecrated in 1936 on the instructions of Colonel Gerard Frederick Towlerton Leather (1865-1941) as a private family burial ground. Here is a memorial carved into the sandstone.
I don’t think the graves are marked, so probably better not to go digging. The site was donated to the National Trust in 1981.
In June this year Christian Holden, a Catholic film maker who specialises Christian films and documentaries (a nice example of nominative determinism), was commissioned to make a documentary on the Way of St Cuthbert. The idea was that the film would follow a US university professor and his students along Cuthbert’s path from the beginning of his monastic life at Melrose Abbey on the Scottish borders to Lindisfarne. Although Holden could have unobtrusively filmed St Cuthbert’s Cave on his phone, as many YouTubers have done, as in this example, he politely asked permission. He was astonished to be refused.
His case has been taken up by Voice for Justice UK, a Christian human rights organisation committed to protecting religious liberty. … Read it all at The Conservative Woman
A video recording of Christian Holden’s testimony, carried
out by the Commission of Inquiry into Discrimination Against Christians (CIDAC) can be found here.