Group of Nine Chest Tombs Including Tomb of John Guyse, South Enclosure

Reasons for Designation

The nine chest tombs are recommended for listing at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * They form a coherent group of late-C18 and early-C19 chest tombs in a prominent site at the eastern entrance to the cemetery. * One of the tombs commemorates John Guyse, a prominent Independent minister of the mid-C18. * They are located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), within which they form a prominent landmark.

Details

635-1/0/10270 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Group of nine chest tombs including to mb of John Guyse, South enclosure

GV II Group of nine chest tombs including tomb of John Guyse, late C18 and early C19

LOCATION: 532782.4, 182228.9 (start); 532776, 182243.9 (end)

MATERIALS: Portland stone with Pennant stone, sandstone and brick

DESCRIPTION: Nine chest tombs form a long row alongside the eastern boundary of the site, between the central pathway and the wall of the Honourable Artillery Company Ground. From north to south they are as follows: #1: Stone chest with brick plinth and corner pilasters; inscription identifies it as the family vault of William Pyne (d.1804). #2: Stone chest on raised plinth with fielded side and end panels; illegible. #3: Stone chest with fielded side panels, moulded Pennant stone lid and small upright footstone; illegible, but known to be the burial place of the Independent minister John Guyse. #4: Stone chest with sandstone plinth and fielded side panels; inscriptions commemorate Daniel Renney, 'late of the parish of St Leonard's, Shoreditch', and various members of the Bass family including William Francis (d.1795). #5: Stone chest with fielded side and end panels; illegible. #6: Stone chest with corner balusters and moulded Pennant stone lid; illegible. #7: Stone chest with fielded side and end panels; illegible. #8: Stone chest on raised plinth with fielded side and end panels; illegible. #9: Stone chest on raised plinth with fluted corner pilasters and high coped top; inscription commemorates William Hale (d.1808) and various members of his family.

HISTORY: John Guyse (c.1677-1761) was baptised in St Albans and educated at Dissenting academies at Pinner and Saffron Walden. He began to preach at the age of 19, eventually becoming assistant minister at a chapel in Hertford before moving to London in 1727 to preside over a newly-formed congregation at New Broad Street. A conservative Calvinist, he published pamphlets attacking Arianism as well as a number of sermons and biblical commentaries.

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). Edwin Cannan, rev. Stephen C. Orchard, entry on Guyse in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com (retrieved on 9 June 2009).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The nine chest tombs are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * They form a coherent group of late-C18 and early-C19 chest tombs in a prominent site at the eastern entrance to the cemetery. * One of the tombs commemorates John Guyse, a prominent Independent minister of the mid-C18. * They are located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), within which they form a prominent landmark.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

508639

Legacy System:

LBS

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