Gabriel Family Monument, South Enclosure

635-1/0/10276 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND 21-FEB-11 Gabriel family monument, South enclosure

GV II Chest tomb of the Gabriel family, mid-C18

LOCATION: 532737.3, 182244.1

MATERIALS: brick and stone with wrought-iron railings

DESCRIPTION: The monument takes the form of a brick chest set upon a rendered brick plinth and surrounded by spear-topped railings with urn finials at the corners. An inscription on the flat stone lid reads: 'Family Vault of G Gabriel Esq.' Stone inscription panels on all four sides of the chest commemorate various members of the Gabriel family, the earliest being Mr G Gabriel of Holloway Place (d.1752).

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 Gabriel family monument is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a well-preserved mid-C18 chest tomb retaining its original railings. * 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 south enclosure.