The Church of England’s Project Spire, a £100 million initiative aimed at addressing the institution’s historical involvement in enslavement, is facing legal opposition and criticism from various quarters. The project was established in 2023 following research into Queen Anne’s Bounty, an endowment fund dating to 1704 that had invested in the South Sea Company, which transported over 34,000 enslaved people across the Atlantic. The fund also received contributions from individuals connected to the Royal African Company.
The Church Commissioners, which manages church assets, committed £100 million in funding for the initiative, with plans to develop an impact investment fund that could support startups in descendant communities. During synod sessions, Daniel Matovu, a barrister representing the diocese of Oxford, contended that the church not only profited from the slave trade but actively supported and participated in it. He estimated that the church generated approximately £5 million annually in today’s currency from directly operating sugar plantations in Barbados between 1710 and 1838, totaling around £640 million across that period.
Project Spire has drawn opposition from the Policy Exchange think tank and Conservative politicians, including Katie Lam, as well as some Church of England members who characterize the project as historically inaccurate and argue the funds should be allocated differently. The church has not disclosed details about the legal challenge or those behind it, though Bishop Graham Usher of Norwich confirmed that Church Commissioners were pursuing full legal advice on the matter. Separately, the Anglican missionary organization USPG established its own £7 million reparative justice project in 2024 after apologizing for its ownership of two Barbados plantations where thousands were enslaved.
During synod discussions, Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, characterized Project Spire as “a work of healing, justice and repair.” Church Commissioners staff have reportedly received hostile communications and “vile abuse” from critics. The Bishop of Norwich emphasized that the church bears responsibility for the historical transatlantic slave trade’s ongoing legacies, describing the practice as abhorrent both historically and in its contemporary effects on descendants.
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