Monument to David Nasmith, South Enclosure is a Grade II listed building in the Islington local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 February 2011. Monument.

Monument to David Nasmith, South Enclosure

WRENN ID
tattered-quoin-hemlock
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Islington
Constituency
Islington South and Finsbury MP: Emily Thornberry (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
21 February 2011
Type
Monument
Address
Monument to David Nasmith, South Enclosure, Bunhill Fields Burial Ground
OS grid reference
TQ 326 822
Coordinates
51.52336, -0.08981
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The monument is a headstone of 1839, restored in 1935, located within the South Enclosure of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. Constructed from Portland stone and originally whitewashed, it takes the form of an upright stone slab with a pedimented top. The primary inscription names David Nasmith as a founder of the City Missions and details his birth and death dates. A secondary inscription records the monument's restoration by friends of the London City Mission during the society’s centenary year.

David Nasmith (1799-1839) was a significant early 19th-century evangelical leader and the founder of the City Mission movement, which continues today as a worldwide association dedicated to ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of the urban poor. Born and educated in Glasgow, he founded the Glasgow City Mission in 1826, becoming a model for similar organisations internationally. He helped establish over thirty mission groups in North America during a tour in 1830, and subsequently co-founded the London City Mission with Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton in 1835.

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground was first enclosed in 1665, and as a location outside the City boundary and independent of any established place of worship, it became London's principal Nonconformist cemetery. The ground was laid out as a public park in 1867 and re-landscaped after war damage in 1964-5. The monument is listed at Grade II for its commemoration of a key evangelical figure and for its group value alongside other listed tombs within the South Enclosure of the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.

Local climate

Monument to David Nasmith, 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

Sign in or create a free account to unlock:

  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • No related consent applications matched
  • 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
Create free account

Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.

Similar buildings

The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.

Nearby listed buildings

  1. Monument to John Rippon, South Enclosure Grade II 9 m
  2. Monument to Joseph Ivimey, South Enclosure Grade II 12 m
  3. Monument to John Gill, South Enclosure Grade II 14 m
  4. Monument to William Broadfoot, West Enclosure Grade II 17 m
  5. Chest Tomb with Volutes, South Enclosure Grade II 20 m
  6. Monument to Thomas Bradbury, West Enclosure Grade II 21 m
  7. Group of Five Chest Tombs, West Enclosure Grade II 24 m
  8. Monument to Elizabeth Esdaile, West Enclosure Grade II 25 m
  9. Pottenger Family Monument, South Enclosure Grade II 30 m
  10. Monument to Samuel Stennett, West Enclosure Grade II 33 m