Group of Five Chest Tombs, West Enclosure
GROUP OF FIVE CHEST TOMBS, 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:
- 1396533
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Group of Five Chest Tombs, West Enclosure
- Statutory Address:
- GROUP OF FIVE CHEST TOMBS, WEST ENCLOSURE, BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1396533
- Date first listed:
- 21-Feb-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Group of Five Chest Tombs, West Enclosure
- Statutory Address 1:
- GROUP OF FIVE CHEST TOMBS, 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:
- GROUP OF FIVE CHEST TOMBS, 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:
- TQ3261682247
Details
635-1/0/10232 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Group of five chest tombs, West enclos ure
GV II Five chest tombs, early C19
LOCATION: 532617.3, 182242.6 (start); 532614.4, 182250.9 (end)
MATERIALS: Portland stone and brick with sandstone plinths
DESCRIPTION: The five chest tombs stand in a row near to the western entrance to the burial ground. From south to north they are as follows: * Stone chest with a coped lid, moulded cornice and base, corner pilasters with sunken panels, and stepped plinth; an inscription on one end reads: 'The family vault of John Travers of St Swithin's Lane and Clapham Surry 1838'. * Plain brick chest with flat stone lid and base, set upon a sandstone plinth; no inscription survives. * Stone chest with coped lid, raised and fielded side panels and moulded base; inscriptions on the panels commemorate Richard Barrett of Arbour Terrace, Stepney (d.1839) and various members of his family. * Stone chest with flat top, raised panels and moulded base, set upon a sandstone plinth; an inscription on the west end commemorates John Megnin of Shoreditch (d.1840); other inscriptions record the burials of various members of the Blott family. * Stone chest with flat top, raised panels with moulded edges, and moulded base, on a sandstone plinth set with iron studs; inscriptions commemorate various members of the Harwood family.
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: This group of five chest tombs are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * They form an impressive and coherent group of early-C19 chest tombs, most bearing legible inscriptions, marking the western entrance to the cemetery. * 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:
- 508572
- 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 28-Jun-2026 at 20:07:53.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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