BY MARGARET ASHWORTH
St Cuthbert’s Cave and the National Trust at its anti-Christian worst
The National Trust (NT) has a record of wokery as long as your arm. If there’s a leftie cause, the NT is on it.
In 2017, the Trust attempted to make all staff and volunteers at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk wear LGBTQ+ badges, after outing the Hall’s late owner (who bequeathed the property to the Trust) as gay, to the indignation of his former secretary. She said: ‘Because he was a gentleman and a shy man and never married, I suppose some people thought he was gay, but he wasn’t. He would never have left his ancestral home to the National Trust had he known they would defame him.’
There’s no stopping the NT Pride bandwagon, however. A full programme of events this year included ‘House Proud at Hatchlands Park, Surrey’ on September 10, tickets from £10. The blurb stated: ‘House Proud returns to its home at Hatchlands Park for a fourth year for another fabulous evening of untold stories. Revel in the queer ecology found in the park itself and enjoy an evening of music, song and performances . . . hosted by our local drag star That Girl.’ I do recommend the page on the website.
Naturally the NT is fully signed up to the climate change scam. Its website says: ‘Climate change is the biggest threat to the coastline, countryside and historic buildings we care for . . . If urgent and large-scale action isn’t taken to address climate change, we predict that more than 70 per cent of the places in our care will be at medium or high risk of climate-related hazards by 2060.’ There are screeds of articles on the topic if you are interested.
One of the Trust’s main preoccupations is slavery; it has identified 93 historic places in its care with links to the trade, and work is continuing to find more. (It’s a bit of a dilemma for the Trust that it is charged with preserving mansions built on such evil foundations. Should they not be campaigning to have them demolished?)
The Trust dropped the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter from its 2024 ‘inclusivity and wellbeing’ calendar, while giving the dates for the Hindu festival of Diwali and the Muslim festivals of Eid and Ramadan. Other events flagged up included Transgender Awareness Week, Black History Month and LGBT+ History Month. After complaints, a spokesman said: ‘This internal guidance is specifically designed to supplement the National Trust’s year-round programming that includes Christmas and Easter, which are national public holidays and which are celebrated at all properties. It enables our teams to mark more religious and cultural festivals, to serve local communities and allow everyone to learn about and enjoy different cultures. The National Trust is for everyone.’
Now it has gone a step further in shunning Christianity by refusing permission to film for a documentary with a Christian theme at one of its sites, saying: ‘We will not be able to host your filming due to its religious affiliation.’
The site in question is St Cuthbert’s Cave near Belford in Northumberland. It is at the foot of a 60ft sandstone outcrop, apparently supported by one slender rock pillar. (Nothing on earth would make me go into it, but many people do.)
According to legend, St Cuthbert died in AD 687 on Lindisfarne, where he was bishop, and his remains were removed to the cave in AD 875 to prevent desecration by Vikings. (The relics are now in Durham Cathedral.)
The 13-acre site, largely wooded with Scots pine, was acquired in the 19th century by the Leather family of Belford. In a slightly unusual move, the area was consecrated in 1936 on the instructions of Colonel Gerard Frederick Towlerton Leather (1865-1941) as a private family burial ground. Here is a memorial carved into the sandstone.
I don’t think the graves are marked, so probably better not to go digging. The site was donated to the National Trust in 1981.
In June this year Christian Holden, a Catholic film-maker who specialises in Christian films and documentaries (a nice example of nominative determinism), was commissioned to make a documentary called The Way of St Cuthbert. The idea was that the film would follow Dr Jason Baxter and a group of his students from Benedictine College, a Roman Catholic private university in Kansas, as they walked the 62-mile St Cuthbert’s Way from Melrose Abbey on the Scottish borders, where Cuthbert began his monastic life, to Lindisfarne. Although Holden could have unobtrusively filmed St Cuthbert’s Cave on his phone, as many YouTubers have done, as in this example, Holden politely asked permission. He was astonished to be refused and queried the decision.
An email reply from the NT said: ‘Thank you for the email and clarification on the filming. We will however be following through with our initial decision that we will not be able to host your filming due to its religious affiliation. I’m sorry I know this is disappointing, but this approach has been mandated from the highest level of the NT.’ The Telegraph covered the issue here.
Holden’s case was taken up by Voice for Justice UK, a Christian human rights organisation committed to protecting religious liberty. VfJUK argues that the refusal on the grounds of ‘religious affiliation’ amounts to discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, which names religion as a protected characteristic.
Chief executive Rev Lynda Rose said: ‘Christianity first came to our shores almost 2,000 years ago. For around 1,300 years we have been a Christian country. Our heritage is Christian.
‘For the National Trust to turn down a request to film a documentary about the life of St Cuthbert on the ground of “religious affiliation” is a rejection and betrayal of the heritage they ostensibly exist to protect.’
The NT is clearly embarrassed over the affair. A spokesman told the Telegraph: ‘The National Trust has no mandate or policy about religious filming. Each request should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and we are looking into how this was handled to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We do host filming for religious programmes at National Trust places, for example Songs of Praise at Fountains Abbey in 2022. We are keen to work with Mr Holden to find a resolution to this issue.’
It’s a bit late now. The film was shot without visuals of St Cuthbert’s Cave and is due to be aired next year.
Margaret Ashworth is a retired national newspaper journalist. She runs the Subbing Clinic in a hopeless attempt to keep up standards, and co-runs A & M Records where she indulges her passion for 60s pop.
This is an updated version of an article which appeared in TCW on November 25, 2025.