Description

635-1/0/10227 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
21-FEB-11 Monuments to Joseph Cartwright and the
family of JS Percy, Middle enclosure

GV II
Two headstones, early C19

LOCATION: 532712, 182261.7

MATERIALS: Sandstone

DESCRIPTION: The two monuments stand side by side. That of Revd Cartwright (d.1800), to the north, has an arched top, and records his incumbency at Lant Street Chapel in Southwark. Below is a verse: 'What if Death my Sleep invade / Should I be of Death afraid? / What if Beams of opening Day / Shine around my breathless Clay? / Tender Friends a while may mourn / Me from their Embraces torn / Dearer better Friends I have / In the Realms beyond the Grave / [See] the golden Gates displayed / [And] the Crown to grace my Head.'

The Revd Percy's monument is to the south, and has a shaped top. The inscription records the burial of Percy's infant son and daughter, who died on consecutive days in 1800, as well as that of his two-year-old grandson Henry Davis (d.1829). These entries are followed by a verse: 'Go lovely Infants, Jesus bids you come / And take Possession of a Throne Above / Go to your blissful, your eternal Home / And sing the Saviour's everlasting Love.' A further inscription records the burials of Percy's adult daughters Eliza and Ann, who died in the same week in 1833, his wife Sarah (d.1831), and the Reverend himself.

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 monuments to the Revd Joseph Cartwright and the family of Revd JS Percy are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Their versified inscriptions, which remain clearly legible, bear vivid witness to varying Evangelical responses to mortality - bullish confidence in the one case, and in the other, one of repeated family tragedy, a tenderly hopeful acquiescence.
* They are located within the Grade I registered Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (q.v.), and have group value with the other listed tombs in the middle enclosure.

Reasons for Listing

Yes, list

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087484

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)