Monument to Joseph Watts, Middle Enclosure
MONUMENT TO JOSEPH WATTS, MIDDLE 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:
- 1396529
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Monument to Joseph Watts, Middle Enclosure
- Statutory Address:
- MONUMENT TO JOSEPH WATTS, MIDDLE ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396529
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Monument to Joseph Watts, Middle Enclosure
- Statutory Address 1:
- MONUMENT TO JOSEPH WATTS, MIDDLE 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 JOSEPH WATTS, MIDDLE 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 32664 82245
Reasons for Designation
Yes, list
Details
635-1/0/10225 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Monument to Joseph Watts, Middle enclo sure
GV II Chest tomb of Joseph Watts, early C19
LOCATION: 532664.3, 182245
MATERIALS: Portland stone with inset slate panels
DESCRIPTION: The monument takes the form of a stone chest upon a flat stone base, with detached corner columns and a moulded lid. Set into each of the four faces of the tomb is a darker stone panel; those to the sides display inscriptions commemorating Joseph Watts (d.1836) and other members of his family, while those to the short ends have armorial bearings carved in relief.
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 Watts family monument is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a well-preserved early-C19 chest tomb with still-legible inscriptions and high-quality relief carving. * It is located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), and has group value with the other listed tombs in the middle enclosure.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 508563
- 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 01-Jul-2026 at 14:57:21.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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