Sites of Memory
Find out more about the partner memorials, which will connect the global history and stories of slavery across London, the UK and the world.
The Wake by Khaleb Brooks will be London's new memorial to the victims of transatlantic slavery, It will be outside London Museum Docklands in West India Quay.
But the memory of transatlantic slavery is not held by any one site; its history and legacy spread across our city.
Across London, many communities are working to uncover the stories and connections that link their local areas to the impact of the transatlantic slave trade. Some of these histories are known but often ignored. Others are unspoken, undocumented or hidden in archives, memories or landscapes.
The Sites of Memory programme will help Londoners bring these histories into public view. Grants will support 10 community groups to share their research and suggest new places for memorial markers. Together with The Wake, these Sites of Memory will link stories of slavery across London, the UK and the world. This will help us better understand how the legacy of the slave trade continues shapes the city today.
The National Archives will provide two research support sessions for grantees, as part of an in-kind partnership. HOUSE OF DREAD will deliver a series of grounding sessions for grantees at different stages of the programme.
‘Sites of Memory’ are made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we can empower local communities to research local links to this history.
Sites of Memory grantees
Croydon Creative Enterprise CIC is a community-led organisation that supports creative practitioners, community groups and residents across Croydon. Through its funded project, Connected Histories, it explores how the legacy of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans continues to shape local identity, memory and shared heritage.
G.O.A.T Film Club is a Black-led community organisation focused on screen culture, dialogue, talent development and collective learning. Its project, Soho Square: Hidden Lives, Public Memory, explores the legacy of slavery through the history of 22 Soho Square and its connections to William Beckford, whose wealth was built on Jamaican sugar plantations worked on by enslaved Africans.
Decolonising the Archive is a heritage and arts organisation that connects underserved communities with archives and cultural institutions through training, skills development and creative interpretation. Through its project, The Pan African Reparative Liberation Railroad, it explores Lambeth’s local history and its connections to the enduring legacies of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.
Rapport Festival is a Brixton-based multidisciplinary African diaspora arts festival and Community Interest Company. Through its project, Remember Us: Stories of the Black Presence in the City of London, it delivers guided walking tours that uncover overlooked Black histories and heritage within the Square Mile.
Holly Street Luncheon Club, which has supported older Hackney residents for over 30 years through meals, social connection and wellbeing activities, is delivering What Stories Do Our Streets Reveal, and Whose Stories Have They Forgotten? This youth-led intergenerational heritage and public art project explores how the legacy of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans continues to shape Hackney’s streets, communities and collective memory.
Camden Black British History Community Hub is a community-led charity dedicated to researching, preserving and sharing the histories and cultural contributions of Camden’s African and Caribbean communities. Through its project, Liberty on Trial: A Camden Story of Law, Slavery, and Freedom, it explores Camden’s connections to the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans through stories of legal challenge, resistance and abolition.
Krio Descendants Union UK & Ireland is a member-led organisation dedicated to preserving and promoting Krio heritage, culture and history. Through its project, The London Story of previously enslaved Black people resettled in Sierra Leone’s ‘Province of Freedom’, it explores the connections between Sierra Leone, Britain and the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans by uncovering lesser-known stories of enslavement, abolition and resettlement.
Skills Within Developments CIC is a community-focused organisation working across Waltham Forest and East London to build partnerships, coordinate local networks and deliver projects that create positive community impact. Through its project, Waltham Forest Sites of Memory: Black Presence, Empire, Freedom and Living Legacy, it explores local connections to the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans, abolition, empire, migration, Windrush and Black community heritage.
The Caribbean & African Collective, Ealing is a social enterprise dedicated to preserving and celebrating African and Caribbean culture, heritage and history. Through its project, Live Lineages, it explores West London’s connections to trade, abolition and Black British presence in the 1830s through an intergenerational heritage and digital public history programme.
Deptford People’s Heritage Museum is a Black-led museum-without-walls that explores the contemporary relevance of Deptford Dockyard and its connections to colonialism and the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans. Through its project, Monumenting Deptford Dockyard: Past, Present, Future, it builds on five years of community-led work exploring how Deptford’s colonial history should be remembered.
International sites
The legacies of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved African people connect London to the world.
In July 2025, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Mayor of Accra Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey announced that Accra, Ghana, will be the site of a partner memorial or site of memory.
The memorial will be the first of a global network of memorials to victims of transatlantic slavery, which will be created in Ghana.
The memorial in Accra will recognise the lasting and devastating impact of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and stand testament to the one million people who were trafficked from the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) across the world.
Freetown in Sierra Leone was also announced as joining the global network of memorial sites.
See more on London's memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery
An immersive sculpture offering communities in London a space to gather, listen, reflect and remember the victims of transatlantic slavery.
Find out why London’s getting a new memorial and how we're developing it with key partners and communities.
Deepen your knowledge and understanding of the history and legacy of transatlantic slavery.
About the National Lottery Heritage Fund
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