CULTURE Minister, Margaret Hodge, has today announced new protection for 18 historic buildings and monuments linked to the slave trade, including the anti-slavery arch in Stroud.

The arch at Farmhill Park is Britain's oldest anti-slavery memorial. It was built by Henry Wyatt in 1834, a prosperous businessman and banker and anti-slavery campaigner, who had bought the Farmhill Estate the year before. The arch now stands at the entrance to Archway School, but in the nineteenth century it formed the carriage entrance to the Estate with its fine Georgian Mansion. It has been upgraded from Grade 11 to Grade 11* to reflect its historic importance .

"The listing of these buildings is a timely reminder of how England's involvement in the slave trade is reflected in the built environment, " said the minister.

"It is important that we acknowledge all aspects of the slave trade, both the people who campaigned against it and succeeded in bringing about the abolition of slavery, and also the people affected by it."

The decision on the listings, has been taken following advice from English Heritage, the Government's expert advisors on the built environment.

The 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act outlawed the slave trade throughout the British Empire and made it illegal for British ships to be involved in the trade. It followed a long fought campaign by the abolitionists, headed in parliament by William Wilberforce.

Slavery itself was finally made illegal in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.