Monument To Charles Fleetwood, South Enclosure

Monument to Charles Fleetwood, South Enclosure

A chest tomb of Portland stone dating to the late 17th century, located in Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. The monument takes the form of a rectangular stone chest with a moulded top and base. The corner balusters bear floral and foliate ornament, and the end panels are carved with cherubs' heads, skulls and scrollwork. The sides of the tomb have fielded inscription panels, though their text is now illegible.

Charles Fleetwood (c.1618–1692) was a Parliamentary soldier and statesman, and one of Oliver Cromwell's closest lieutenants. Born in Northamptonshire and trained as a lawyer at Gray's Inn, he joined the Parliamentary side at the start of the Civil War, fighting at the battles of Newbury and Naseby. He rose swiftly through the ranks to become commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary forces, helping to secure Oliver Cromwell's ultimate victory at the battle of Worcester in 1651. The following year, having married Cromwell's daughter (and Henry Ireton's widow) Bridget, he was despatched to Ireland to put an end to the Catholic resistance there.

His later career in government failed to match the distinction of his military achievements. As Lord Deputy of Ireland he was responsible for implementing the punitive terms of the 1652 Act of Settlement, including the mass confiscation of Catholic-held land and its reallocation to Protestant ex-soldiers and colonists. However, his indecisiveness encouraged dissent within Parliamentary ranks and he was effectively replaced by Cromwell's son Henry in 1655. In the chaotic closing months of the Republic he attempted, without success, to play off the conflicting interests of Parliament, the army and the resurgent Royalist cause. He avoided execution following the Restoration in 1660 but was forbidden from holding further public office, and lived privately for the last thirty years of his life in Stoke Newington.

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. The ground 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.