Bunhill Fields

Bunhill Fields Cemetery is in the City of London, England

Bunhill originates with the term "Bone Hill" and the area was associated with burials from Saxon times. Originally built as a dissenters' burial ground in 1685, it was used for those who refused to compromise their beliefs and who practiced a religion outside of the Church of England.

The cemetery was used until 1855 for approximately 12,000 burials but was taken over by the City of London in 1867 and used as a green space; now about half the area is laid out as a park and the rest remains as fence-enclosed grave areas.

The cemetery was damaged by German bombing during World War II and was reconstructed in 1960.

Some of the notables buried here are:

• Thomas Bayes, (1702-1761), mathematician
• William Blake , (1757-1827), artist
• John Bunyan, (1628-1688), author: The Pilgrim's Progress
• Daniel Defoe, (1661-1731), author: Robinson Crusoe
• George Fox, (1624-1691), Founder of the Quaker movement
• John Gill[?], (1697-1771), theologian
• John Owen, (1616-1683), clergyman
• John Rippon[?], (1751-1836), Baptist clergyman
• Isaac Watts, (1674-1748), composer.
• Susanna Wesley[?], (1669-1742), mother of John Wesley, founder of Methodism

See also: List of other famous cemeteries

External link

Corporation of London Bunhill Fields page (http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/living_environment/open_spaces/bunhill.htm)