The colonial secrets of Britain’s stately homes

CHANGING LANDSCAPES

Before daybreak the crew of Francis Drake’s ship heard the shouts of a man who wanted to come aboard. The man was named Diego and he had been born in west Africa. It was 1572 and Drake’s ship was anchored off the coast of Panama. As Miranda Kaufmann writes in her book Black Tudors, Diego had formerly been enslaved by the Spanish before fleeing and offering information about their silver and gold to Drake. The English explorer happily used this information to his advantage and, with Diego at his side, captured treasures that delighted his queen, Elizabeth I, and made him a very rich man. This treasure helped to pay off part of England’s national debt, while Drake bought Buckland Abbey with his newfound wealth.

Over the four and a half centuries since Drake moved into his grand new residence on the edge of Dartmoor, Buckland Abbey has been readily incorporated into an idealised version of Britain’s