Editing Bunhill Fields (section)

==Bunyan, Defoe and Blake==
[[File:Finsbury bunyan defoe blake 1.jpg|thumb|left|The broadwalk, looking north. John Bunyan's monument is in the foreground, with memorials to Daniel Defoe (obelisk, left) and Willam Blake (headstone, right) in the background.]]

The best-known monuments are those to the three literary and artistic figures, [[John Bunyan]], [[Daniel Defoe]] and [[William Blake]]. Their graves have long been sites of cultural pilgrimage: Isabella Holmes stated in 1896 that the "most frequented paths" in the burial ground were those leading to the monuments of Bunyan and Defoe.<ref>Holmes 1896, p. 135.</ref> In their present form, all these monuments post-date the closure of the burial ground. Their settings were further radically modified by the landscaping of 1964–65, when a paved north–south "broadwalk" was created in the middle of the burial ground to display them—outside the railed-off areas, accessible to visitors, and cleared of other monuments. Bunyan's monument lies at the broadwalk's southern end, and that to Defoe at its northern end, while Blake's headstone was moved from the site of his grave and repositioned next to Defoe, alongside the headstone to the lesser-known [[Joseph Swain (poet)|Joseph Swain]] (died 1796). This arrangement survives, but in 2018 a second monument to Blake was placed on the actual site of his grave.

===John Bunyan===
[[John Bunyan]], author of ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress|Pilgrim's Progress]]'', died in August 1688. He was initially buried in the "[[Baptists|Baptist]] Corner" at the back of the burial ground, on the understanding that his remains would be moved into the [[Burial vault (tomb)|family vault]] of his friend John Strudwick when that was next opened for a burial. There is no certain evidence as to when (or even if) this was done: the probability, however, is that it occurred when Strudwick himself died in 1695, and certainly Bunyan's name was inscribed on the side of the monument.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Philip |first=Robert |title=The Life, Times and Characteristics of John Bunyan, author of the Pilgrim's Progress |publisher=Thomas Ward |year=1839 |location=London |pages=578–580}}</ref> The Strudwick monument took the form of a large [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] stone chest. By the 19th century, this had fallen into decay, but in the period following the closure of the burial ground a public appeal for its restoration was launched under the presidency of the [[Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury|7th Earl of Shaftesbury]]. This work was completed in May 1862, and comprised a complete reconstruction of the monument, undertaken by the sculptor [[Edgar George Papworth Senior]] (1809–1866).<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1396491 |desc=Monument to John Bunyan, Central Broadwalk |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref> Although Papworth retained the basic form of the tomb-chest, he added a [[Tomb effigy|recumbent effigy]] of Bunyan to the top of it, and two [[relief]] panels to its sides depicting scenes from ''Pilgrim's Progress''. The monument was further restored in 1928 (the tercentenary of Bunyan's birth), and again after World War II (following serious wartime damage to the effigy's face).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winslow |first=Ola Elizabeth |url=https://archive.org/details/johnbunyan0000wins |title=John Bunyan |publisher=Macmillan |year=1961 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/johnbunyan0000wins/page/201 201–202] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnes |first=Richard |title=The Art of Memory: sculpture in the cemeteries of London |publisher=Frontier Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=9781872914442 |location=Kirstead |pages=76–77}}</ref>

<gallery widths="240px" heights="170px" class="center" caption="">
File:Bunyan tomb 1849.jpg|The monument to the Strudwick family and John Bunyan in its original form: an engraving of 1849
File:Monument to John Bunyan, Central Broadwalk 2013-09-04 14-21-58.jpg|John Bunyan's monument as remodelled in 1862
File:Bunyan's tomb.jpg|Effigy of John Bunyan
</gallery>

===Daniel Defoe===
[[File:Daniel Defoe monument Bunhill Fields.jpg|thumb|right|upright|1870 obelisk to Daniel Defoe]]
[[Daniel Defoe]], author of ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'', died in April 1731 and was buried in Bunhill Fields: his wife, Mary, died in December 1732 and was laid to rest beside him. His daughter-in-law was also buried in the same grave. Defoe died in poverty, and the grave was marked with a simple headstone. In the winter of 1857/8 – at a time when the burial ground was closed and neglected—the grave was struck by lightning and the headstone broken. In 1869, James Clarke, editor of the ''Christian World'' children's newspaper, launched an appeal for subscriptions to place a more suitable memorial on the grave. He encouraged his readers to make donations of [[Sixpence (British coin)|sixpence]] each; and to stimulate enthusiasm opened two lists, one for boys and one for girls, to encourage a spirit of competition between them. Many adults also made donations. In the end, some 1,700 subscriptions raised a total of about £200. A design for a marble [[obelisk]] (or "Cleopatric pillar") was commissioned from C. C. Creeke; and the sculptor [[Samuel Horner (sculptor)|Samuel Horner]] of [[Bournemouth]] was commissioned to execute it. In late 1869, when the foundations were being dug, skeletons were disinterred, and there was an unseemly rush for souvenirs by the crowd of onlookers: the police had to be called before calm was restored. The monument was unveiled at a ceremony attended by three of Defoe's great-granddaughters on 16 September 1870.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1396492 |desc=Monument to Daniel Defoe, Central Broadwalk |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Frank |first=Katherine |url=https://archive.org/details/crusoedanieldefo0000fran_g6g8/page/287 |title=Crusoe: Daniel Defoe, Robert Knox and the creation of a myth |publisher=Bodley Head |year=2011 |isbn=9780224073097 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/crusoedanieldefo0000fran_g6g8/page/287 287–291] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

===William Blake===
[[William Blake]] died in August 1827 and was buried in the northern part of the burial ground. His wife, [[Catherine Blake|Catherine Sophia]], died in October 1831 and was buried in a separate grave on the south side of the ground. By the 20th century, Blake's grave was in disrepair; and in 1927, for the centenary of his death and at a time when his reputation was on the rise, a new headstone was commissioned. As it had been decided to commemorate both William and Catherine, despite the fact that the headstone would stand at some distance from Catherine's grave, the inscription was phrased as "Near by lie the remains of ...". When Bunhill Fields was relandscaped in the 1960s, Blake's grave lay in the area that was to be cleared of monuments. The headstone was therefore moved approximately 20&nbsp;metres (yards) to its present location, next to the monument to Daniel Defoe. It was also rotated through 90°, so that it now faces south rather than west.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1396493 |desc=Monument to William and Catherine Sophia Blake, Central Broadwalk |access-date=28 June 2014}}</ref> [[Joseph Swain (poet)|Joseph Swain]]'s headstone was added to the grouping at the same time, although that faces west.<ref name="nhle"/> Flowers, coins and other [[Votive offering|tokens]] are regularly left by visitors to Blake's headstone.

In 2006–07, members of the group The Friends of William Blake established the original location of his grave, and proposed placing a new memorial there.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://friendsofblake.com/ |title=Cause For Celebration: The Location of William Blake's Grave discovered! |publisher=The Friends of William Blake |access-date=29 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531072145/http://www.friendsofblake.com/ |archive-date=31 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the form of a [[ledger stone]], with lettering by [[Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley|Lida Cardozo Kindersley]], this was finally unveiled on 12 August 2018 by [[Philip Pullman]], President of the Blake Society.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/aug/11/how-amateur-sleuths-finally-tracked-down-burial-place-william-blake |title=How amateur sleuths finally tracked down the burial place of William Blake |date=11 August 2018 |work=The Guardian |access-date=11 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/blake-s-final-stop-on-the-road-to-jerusalem-is-recognised-at-last-gdfvx2jm2 |title=William Blake's final stop on the road to Jerusalem is recognised at last |date=23 July 2018 |work=[[The Times]]|location=London|access-date=11 August 2018}}</ref>

<gallery widths="240px" heights="170px" class="center" caption="">
File:Finsbury bunhill blake 1.jpg|1927 headstone to William and Catherine Sophia Blake
File:Bunhill Blake 2018.jpg|2018 ledger stone on William Blake's grave
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