Cromwell Family Monument, South Enclosure

Cromwell Family Monument, South Enclosure, Bunhill Fields Burial Ground

This is an early 18th-century chest tomb constructed of Portland stone with a darker stone lid and brick plinth. The monument comprises a stone chest with raised and fielded side panels, a moulded lid and base, and a plain rectangular plinth.

The inscription on the lid records that the monument was originally erected in 1727 by Richard Cromwell in memory of his mother-in-law Eleanor Gatton. It also names Eleanor, Mary, Hannah and Henry Cromwell – respectively Richard's daughter, sister, mother and father (the latter two are also commemorated on an adjacent monument). The name of Eleanor Gracedieu, daughter of the City merchant Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu, is also recorded. The side panels record later interments among the Cromwell family, including those of William, Mary, Elizabeth and Letitia, the latter's date of death in 1789 being the final recorded burial.

The monument commemorates members of the Cromwell family, descendants of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the family's fortunes declined sharply. Henry Cromwell (1658–1711), grandson of the Lord Protector, was forced to resign his Cambridgeshire estate and pursue employment as an army officer; he died while on service in Portugal and was buried at Lisbon, though his name was later inscribed on the family monuments at Bunhill Fields. His wife Hannah, née Hewling (died 1732), was the daughter of a wealthy London merchant; two of her brothers were officers in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685 and were later executed despite her celebrated attempt to procure a pardon. Hannah bore ten children, among them Richard (1695–1759) and William (1693–1772), both lawyers.

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. The ground 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. The monument is a well-preserved chest tomb with clearly legible inscriptions and possesses group value with the other listed tombs in the south enclosure.