Monument To Elizabeth Esdaile, West Enclosure

635-1/0/10231 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Monument to Elizabeth Esdaile, West en closure

GV II Headstone of Elizabeth Esdaile, mid C18

LOCATION: 532629, 182245

MATERIALS: Portland stone

DESCRIPTION: The monument is an upright stone slab with a shaped top in the form of a pediment supported on volutes. The area beneath bears rich relief carving, much worn, depicting cherubs, clouds and a sunburst. The inscription commemorates Elizabeth Esdaile (d.1742 'aged two years, ten months and 23 days') and her mother, also Elizabeth (d.1747?).

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 Elizabeth Esdaile is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a good example of mid-C18 Baroque tomb sculpture with a still-legible inscription. * It is located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), and has group value with the other listed tombs in the west enclosure.