Monument To John Rippon, South Enclosure

This is a stone chest tomb, dated 1836, located within the South enclosure of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. The monument is constructed from Portland stone, with a sandstone lid and plinth. It features a coped lid, a moulded base, flat corner pilasters, and raised inscription panels. The southern panel commemorates the burials of the Reverend John Rippon and his wife Sarah. The northern panel details Rippon's career, character, and achievements.

John Rippon (1751-1836) was a Particular Baptist minister, hymnologist, and religious historian who served as pastor of the Carter Lane Church in Southwark. He published the first Baptist hymn-book in 1787 and contributed extensively to religious bodies and the history of English Dissent. His notebooks are a significant source of information about Bunhill Fields.

Bunhill Fields was first enclosed as a burial ground in 1665 and became a principal burial place for Nonconformists, including John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, and William Blake. The burial ground was closed in 1853, later landscaped as a park, and then re-landscaped after war damage. The monument is designated at Grade II for its preservation, its commemoration of an important figure in religious history, and its group value within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.