Funding secured for Memorial to the Liberated Africans

The No. 1 Building in Rupert's Valley, the only remaining structure from St Helena's Liberated African Establishment. It was built in 1865 as a reception centre and accommodation block for Africans liberated by the Royal Navy from Trans-Atlantic slaving vessels.

We are delighted to share the press release from the St Helena National Trust reporting the signing of a £165,000 funding agreement with the Commonwealth Heritage Forum to restore the No. 1 Building in Rupert's Valley as a permanent memorial and slavery interpretation centre dedicated to the memory of the 8,000 Africans who died and were buried on St Helena after being released by the Royal Navy from Trans-Atlantic slaving ships in the mid-19th century. We have been working with the National Trust to secure this funding, which covers the cost of historic fabric repairs to the No. 1 Building and also a training scheme for construction studies students and government and private sector construction workers in the principles of historic building repair. We still have to raise about £40,000 to cover the cost of the internal fit-out of the building as an exhibition space and research centre and will be launching a fundraising campaign for that shortly. For now, however, we want to congratulate everyone who has worked so hard to get the project to this stage and to offer our thanks to the St Helena National Trust, the Liberated African Advisory Committee and the Commonwealth Heritage Forum for working so hard together to make this project a reality.

Read the Press Release here.

Find out more about the work of the Commonwealth Heritage Forum here.