As part of the trust’s Colonial Countryside project, primary school pupils were led around the grounds of historic country estates, and were then asked to write about the experience. 

One home viewed by the children, Charlecote Park, near Stratford-upon-Avon, had a display showcasing a sword looted during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. 

According to the Times, one student wrote of the weapon: “Stolen by the English; a freedom sword, a stolen freedom sword.”

Another student penned a verse about Lord Curzon, viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905. The trust owns Curzon’s former home, Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire.

“He thinks he’s strong, trying to take over India,” the pupil wrote. The musing was reportedly posted on the National Trust’s website before being taken down. 

A spokesman for the trust defended the writing program, describing it as a creative writing project that allows children to “explore history and nature, to think about their place in the world.”

Many on social media saw things a bit differently, however.

Actor and activist Laurence Fox, who is a candidate in London’s mayoral race, suggested that the National Trust was “the enemy within the gates.”

“Reclaim our culture for our children,” he wrote in response to the Times’ report about the controversy.