Group Of Five Chest Tombs, West Enclosure

The group comprises five chest tombs dating to the early 19th century, situated near the western entrance to Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. The tombs are constructed from Portland stone and brick, with sandstone plinths.

The first tomb is a stone chest with a coped lid, a moulded cornice and base, and corner pilasters featuring sunken panels, set upon a stepped plinth. An inscription on one end identifies it as the family vault of John Travers of St Swithin's Lane and Clapham, Surrey, dated 1838. The second tomb is a plain brick chest with a flat stone lid and base, resting on a sandstone plinth, although no inscription survives. The third is a stone chest with a coped lid, raised and fielded side panels, and a moulded base; inscriptions on the panels commemorate Richard Barrett of Arbour Terrace, Stepney (died 1839) and various members of his family. The fourth tomb is a stone chest with a flat top, raised panels, and a moulded base, on a sandstone plinth with iron studs; an inscription on the west end commemorates John Megnin of Shoreditch (died 1840), with other inscriptions recording the burials of various members of the Blott family. Finally, the fifth tomb is a stone chest with a flat top, raised panels with moulded edges, and a moulded base on a sandstone plinth set with iron studs; inscriptions commemorate various members of the Harwood family.

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground was first enclosed as a burial ground in 1665 and became London’s principal Nonconformist cemetery, notable for burials including John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake. It was closed in 1853, landscaped as a park in 1867, and re-landscaped following war damage in 1964-5.

The group is designated at Grade II for its impressive and coherent arrangement of early 19th-century chest tombs, most bearing legible inscriptions, marking the western entrance to the cemetery. They also contribute to the group value of the listed tombs within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.