Come clean on mansion’s dark past, Trust told
Abuse inquiry lawyers say ‘glowing’ references to schoolboy pranks and cycle rides cover up truth
IT IS promoted by the National Trust as a triumph of restoration. But lawyers acting for victims of child sexual abuse are asking Croome Court to come clean about its “ugly” history when it was run as a Catholic boarding school.
Visitors to the Worcestershire stately home are told the one-time residence of the Earl of Coventry has many distinguished features, including the gardens designed by Capability Brown.
Although the Trust’s website says Croome Court was once used as a school, the descriptions are lighthearted: “When the nuns weren’t looking, some of the boys used the dumb waiter as a lift to the ground floor with contraband biscuits.”
It also recalls: “In 1962, during the school’s tenure, a section of the M5 was built, slicing through the Croome estate. Four boys tried to escape from Croome on bicycles on the M5 and were brought back by the police.”
Lawyers at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse claim the incident hides a disturbing truth: the boys were trying to escape beatings from the nuns and sexual assaults by teachers and priests at the special needs school, run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham.
The lawyers are calling on the Trust not to play down this period in the building’s history. On Thursday, during the final day of evidence into the archdiocese, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC spoke of Croome Court’s “ugly history” and criticised the Trust’s depiction of “a very glowing background”. She asked that the inquiry, headed by Professor Alexis Jay, recommend that the Trust and archdiocese work together with survivors to acknowledge what really happened at Croome Court.
Among those whose stories of abuse at Croome Court were told to the in- quiry was victim D2 who was regularly beaten, including by one religious sister known as “the karate nun” because of the way she would kick children.
John Wakefield, D2’s solicitor, said: “The description of Croome Court’s schooldays on the Trust’s website really grates with my client. Its history is undoubtedly known to the Trust, as what was endured by those pupils is on public record. They are ignoring it.
“While the National Trust is not responsible for the abuse, this gives the impression they are complicit with the archdiocese in covering it up because they think it will cause reputational damage. Protecting reputations has been a common theme at the inquiry.”
He said Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Birmingham at the time and now Cardinal Archbishop of Westmin- ster, had twice ignored letters from and on behalf of D2 requesting an apology.
Croome Court was sold to the archdiocese in 1948 and it became a boarding school for 140 boys aged 7 to 11, eventually closing in 1979.
Some victims of the abuse took decades to speak out and one attempted suicide, the inquiry heard. Last night the Trust, which has received lottery grants for an oral history of Croome Court, said: “We already (and have for many years) worked with ex-pupils at Croome and continue to do so.
“The National Trust has not played any part in this hearing as it deals with matters prior to our involvement.”
When asked if it would change the material about the school on its website, the Trust’s spokesman said that she did not know.