"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 Africans whose lives were disrupted and destroyed.”

“I am pleased to say these new listings reflect this diversity, from prominent campaigners like Thomas Fowell Buxton to the unknown 'native of Africa' commemorated in the graveyard in Shropshire.”

Decisions on the listings have been taken following advice from English Heritage, the Government's expert advisors on the built environment. In order to reveal a fuller story of England's history, English Heritage started a project in 2006 to review listed buildings and acknowledge historic links to transatlantic slavery and the abolitionist movement.

The new information on abolition and the slave trade will help provide guidance on sites where the social historic importance can be even greater than the architectural interest.

Amongst the new listings are some important graves and tombs including the grave of an Unknown African 'I.D.' in St John the Baptist Church, Bishops Castle, Shropshire.

The headstone on this highly unusual grave has an inscription which reads: 'Here lieth the Body of I.D./A Native of Africa/who died in ths (sic) Town/Sept 9th 1801/God hath made of one Blood, all nations of Men. Act 17 ch. ver. 26'.

Nothing is known for sure about who this 'native of Africa' could be, though there is a record in the burial register of the internment of a John Davies on 12th September.

Similarly the Tomb of Harriet Long and Jacob Walker in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Hornsey poses some interesting questions, being unusual in two respects.

Jacob was the former slave of Harriet and her husband, and it is rare to find a nineteenth century memorial to a former slave, let alone one that shares his resting place with the woman who once owned him.

The other new listings include the tomb of Samuel Lucas and Margaret Bright Lucas in Highgate Cemetery. Both were prominent social reformers and campaigners against slavery. The tomb of James Stephen in the churchyard of the Old St Mary's Church, Stoke Newington has also been listed. Stephen was a lawyer and anti-slavery campaigner who was a close associate of William Wilberforce both in work and family life.

These important reminders of an inhuman trade will now join several listed buildings that acknowledge historic links to transatlantic slavery and the abolitionist movement.

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.

While Wilberforce is the best known of the abolitionists, there were many others who campaigned against slavery, and it is often the less well-known names that are commemorated in the listed buildings, along with Africans who suffered as a result of the slave trade.

"This is history on our doorstep,” said Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage. “These buildings and monuments are the physical reminders of the extraordinary campaign waged by so many people in England, black and white, to end the slave trade. Some buildings also remind us of the immense wealth that the slave trade created in British cities and ports."