A statue of a kneeling black man has been removed from the garden of a stately home because it caused “upset and distress”, the National Trust said.
The figure, thought to be a representation of Africa, had been in position at the front of the Georgian house at Dunham Massey in Cheshire.
On Friday, a spokeswoman for the National Trust said the decision had been made to move the statue.
She said: “The statue has caused upset and distress because of the way it depicts a black person and because of its prominence at the front of the house.
“We don’t want to censor or deny the way colonial histories are woven into the fabric of our buildings.
“For these reasons, we have decided to move it safely from its previous location while we make plans to address it in a way that fully acknowledges the appalling histories of slavery and the slave trade.”
The lead figure, depicting a black man holding a sundial above his head and wearing a skirt of feathers, is believed to have been sculpted by Andries Carpentier in 1735, the trust said.
A string of monuments and statues with links to the slave trade are being pulled down across the country following protests over the death of George Floyd in America and racial injustice.
