Bland Family Monument, South Enclosure

The Bland Family monument is a slate headstone located within the South enclosure of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, dating to 1767. The headstone has a shaped top and a clear inscription commemorating first Master Thomas Bland, who died in June 1767 at the age of 10 months, followed by his mother, Mrs Mary Bland, who died in December 1767 at the age of 26. Her epitaph reads: 'Here rests a woman, good and without pretence, / Blest with plain reason and with sober sense. / So unaffected, so compos'd a mind; / So firm, yet soft; so strong, yet so resign'd. / Heaven as its purest gold by tortures try'd, / The saint sustained it, but the woman dy'd.' The monument also records the death of Mr Thomas Bland, Mary's husband, in 1777.

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground was first enclosed in 1665 and became a principal burial ground for Nonconformists, including notable figures like John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, and William Blake. The ground was closed for burials in 1853, later landscaped in 1867 and again in 1964-5. Little is known of the Bland family beyond the information inscribed on their headstone.

The monument is designated at Grade II for its well-preserved condition, the legibility of its inscription, and the representative nature of the epitaph. It contributes to the group value of the listed monuments within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.