Description

635-1/0/10242 BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
21-FEB-11 Monument to Theophilus and Hannah Lind
sey, Thomas Belsham and Elizabeth Rayn
or, North Section

GV II
Chest tomb, c.1808, relocated 1964-5

LOCATION: 532644.8, 182305.6

MATERIALS: Portland stone

DESCRIPTION: The monument takes the form of a rectangular stone chest with a coped top and moulded base, the two longer sides having simple pilasters. The principal inscription gives the details of Lindsey's 'blameless and exemplary life'; other inscriptions record the burials of Lindsey's wife Hannah and their friends and associates Thomas Belsham and Elizabeth Raynor. An inscription on the edge of the upper slab quotes from book XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses: 'si non ossibus ossa meis at nomen nomine tangam' ('we shall touch, if not bone to bone, then at least name to name').

HISTORY: Theophilus Lindsey (1723-1808) one of the fathers of the Unitarian movement, was born in Middlewich, Cheshire and educated there and at Leeds Grammar School before going up to St John's College, Cambridge. He became a fellow of the college in 1747, and in the same year was ordained as an Anglican priest. As the godson of the Earl of Huntingdon he had influential connections amongst the Evangelican wing of the aristocracy, which enabled him to serve as a chaplain to the Duke of Somerset, tutor to the future Duke of Northumberland, and rector of various parishes in Somerset and Yorkshire. Under the influence of friends such as Francis Blackburne and Joseph Priestley, Lindsey came to adopt increasingly latitudinarian and Unitarian views; after the rejection by the House of Commons of his 'Feathers tavern petition' he seceded from the Church of England, and in 1774 established a chapel in Essex Street in London, an event which is regarded as marking the emergence of Unitarianism as a distinct denomination. His liturgical and theological works, including A Liturgy (an adapted version of the Anglican rite for use by Unitarian congregations) and An Apology (setting out the grounds of his break with the Church of England) formed the foundations of much later Unitarian practice and belief.

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. The latter scheme involved clearing the tombs in the cemetery's northern enclosure; Lindsey's tomb was one of those selected for retention and relocation.

SOURCES: Corporation of London, A History of the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground (1902).
A W Light, Bunhill Fields (London, 1915).
Albert Nicholson, rev. GM Ditchfield, entry on Lindsey in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com (retrieved on 9 June 2009).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The monument to Theophilus and Hannah Lindsey, Thomas Belsham and Elizabeth Raynor is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a well-preserved early-C19 chest tomb.
* It commemorates a leading C18 clergyman and theologian, regarded as the founder of Unitarianism as a distinct denomination.
* It bears a poignant Latin inscription reflecting the burial of friends in a shared plot, a common practice among those interred at Bunhill Fields.
* 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 north section.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087497

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.

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