Monument to Mary Benson and Adjoining Headstone, West Enclosure
MONUMENT TO MARY BENSON AND ADJOINING HEADSTONE, WEST ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396528
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Monument to Mary Benson and Adjoining Headstone, West Enclosure
- Statutory Address:
- MONUMENT TO MARY BENSON AND ADJOINING HEADSTONE, WEST ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396528
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Monument to Mary Benson and Adjoining Headstone, West Enclosure
- Statutory Address 1:
- MONUMENT TO MARY BENSON AND ADJOINING HEADSTONE, WEST ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- MONUMENT TO MARY BENSON AND ADJOINING HEADSTONE, WEST ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Islington (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 32646 82242
Details
635-1/0/10229 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Monument to Mary Benson and adjoining headstone, West enclosure
GV II Two headstones, mid-C18
LOCATION: 532646.2, 182241.6
MATERIALS: Portland stone
DESCRIPTION: The monument to Mary Benson is an upright slab with a scrolled and pedimented top, beneath which are carved in low relief a scroll, crossed bones and a winged skull. A worn inscription panel below records the details of Mary Benson's life, and gives the date of her death as 1739.
The unidentified monument immediately to the south is taller and more elaborate, having a scrolled segmental top with an hourglass, three skulls and assorted bones carved in high relief. Beneath, two pilasters in the form of caryatids frame a bowed panel, its inscription now almost completely illegible.
HISTORY: Bunhill Fields was first enclosed as a burial ground in 1665. Thanks to its location just outside the City boundary, and its independence from any Established place of worship, it became London's principal Nonconformist cemetery, the burial place of John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, William Blake and other leading religious and intellectual figures. It was closed for burials in 1853, laid out as a public park in 1867, and re-landscaped following war damage by Bridgewater and Shepheard in 1964-5.
SOURCES: Corporation of London, A History of the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (1902). A W Light, Bunhill Fields (London, 1915).
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The monument to Mary Benson and its neighbour are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * They represent particularly ornate and relatively well-preserved examples of early-C18 Baroque tomb sculpture. * They are located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), and has group value with the other listed tombs in the west enclosure.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 508569
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 17-Jun-2026 at 13:50:05.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.