Description

635-1/0/10274

BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND
Monument to Thomas and Hannah Miller, South enclosure

21-FEB-11

GV
II*
Headstone of Thomas and Hannah Miller, early C18

LOCATION: 532736.6, 182240.5

MATERIALS: Portland stone

DESCRIPTION: The monument takes the form of a shield-shaped upright slab, flared at the base and with a shaped pediment above. Its bowed front is carved to resemble drapery, which hangs down over a pair of projecting skulls at the sides. An amorino (winged cherub's head) with folded wings rests under the upper cornice. The inscription, carved as though written on the surface of the drapery, commemorates the merchant Thomas Miller (d.1701) and his daughter Hannah (d.1723).

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 Thomas and Hannah Miller is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* An unusually fine example of Baroque monumental sculpture, the best of its kind in the cemetery, illustrating that - at this early period at least - Puritanism in religion did not necessarily entail the rejection of aesthetic opulence.
* 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 south enclosure.

Reasons for Listing

The monument to Thomas and Hannah Miller is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* An unusually fine example of Baroque monumental sculpture, the best of its kind in the cemetery, illustrating that - at this early period at least - Puritanism in religion did not necessarily entail the rejection of aesthetic opulence.
* 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 south enclosure.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17552270

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)