Description

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.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087480

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings