Chest Tomb with Volutes, South Enclosure is a Grade II listed building in the Islington local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 February 2011. Tomb. 4 related planning applications.
Chest Tomb with Volutes, South Enclosure
- WRENN ID
- long-obsidian-ash
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Islington
- Constituency
- Islington South and Finsbury MP: Emily Thornberry (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 February 2011
- Type
- Tomb
- Address
- Chest Tomb with Volutes, South Enclosure, Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, EC1Y 8LP
- OS grid reference
- TQ 326 822
- Coordinates
- 51.52329, -0.08953
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
This is a mid-18th century chest tomb located in the south enclosure of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. It is made of Portland stone and features a brick plinth. The tomb is tall with a projecting coped lid and a moulded base. The sides of the chest have label-shaped fielded panels, although the inscriptions on them are now illegible. The ends of the tomb also have similar panels, which are positioned between elongated, intricately carved volutes.
Bunhill Fields was established as a burial ground in 1665 and became a significant Nonconformist cemetery due to its location just outside the City boundary and its independence from any Established place of worship. It is the final resting place of notable figures such as John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, and William Blake. The cemetery was closed for burials in 1853 and transformed into a public park in 1867, with further landscaping done after war damage in 1964-1965.
The chest tomb is recognized for its well-preserved state and its unique Continental Baroque style, as well as its group value with other listed tombs in the south enclosure of the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.
Local climate
Chest Tomb with Volutes, South Enclosure sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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