Headstone To Eleanor And Charles Sanderson, South Enclosure

635-1/0/10284 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Headstone to Eleanor and Charles Sande rson, South enclosure

GV II Headstone of Eleanor and Charles Sanderson, c1796

LOCATION: 532700, 182223

MATERIALS: Sandstone

DESCRIPTION: The headstone has a shaped top and an inscription on one side. It commemorates Mrs Eleanor Sanderson d.1795, aged 43, and Mr Charles Sanderson d 1796, aged 76. An admonitory verse follows which reads: 'In Youth or Age you all must Die, / And turn to Dust as well as I. / Death doth not always warning give, / Therefore be carefull how you live.' The inscription concludes 'Late of Hog Lane'.

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 monument to Eleanor and Charles Sanderson is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a well-preserved and clearly legible headstone of c1796, with a witty verse displaying a less solemn style of piety than is otherwise typical at Bunhill Fields; * It is located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), and has group value with the other listed monuments in the south enclosure.