The Church of England is confronting a legal challenge to Project Spire, a £100 million initiative designed to address the institution’s historical connections to the enslavement trade. The project was established in 2023 following research that revealed Queen Anne’s Bounty, an endowment fund dating to 1704, had invested in the South Sea Company, which transported over 34,000 enslaved individuals across the Atlantic. The fund also received contributions from figures involved in the enslavement enterprise, including Edward Colston of the Royal African Company.
The Church Commissioners, which manages church assets, pledged £100 million in funding for the project. The initiative is expected to establish an impact investment fund that would provide financial backing to startups in descendant communities while pursuing social and environmental objectives alongside financial returns. At the General Synod meeting in York, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, characterized Project Spire as “a work of healing, justice and repair.”
The initiative has drawn opposition from various quarters, including the Policy Exchange think tank and certain Conservative politicians, as well as some Church of England members who contend the project is “historically uninformed” and that funds should be allocated differently. Daniel Matovu, a barrister representing the diocese of Oxford, presented calculations suggesting the church generated approximately £5 million annually from operating sugar plantations in Barbados between 1710 and 1838, totaling roughly £640 million in contemporary monetary value.
Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, acknowledged the legal challenge while emphasizing the institution’s responsibility for its historical involvement in enslavement. He noted that staff members have endured “vile abuse” and hostile communications related to the project. The Anglican missionary organization USPG similarly launched a £7 million reparative justice initiative in 2024 after apologizing for having owned two plantations in Barbados where thousands were enslaved.
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