London is the last resting place of many famous writers, including William Blake and Daniel Defoe. You’ll find them in the ancient burial ground at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground in Islington.
London has many old burial grounds. The ever-expanding city swallowed up local villages and churchyards. Graves disappeared between towering modern high-rise buildings. History hidden underneath the march of progress.
Bunhill Fields Burial Ground
Such a place is Bunhill Fields in Islington. Fences surround many of the graves to protect them. Fortunately the monument to Daniel Defoe sits next to Blake’s headstone in an accessible area. They moved Blakes’ headstone in 1964-65 to allow the public to visit.
Bunhill Fields was first used as a burial ground in 1665 and continued to take internments until 1854. But the Church of England never consecrated the grounds or used it, so it became the final resting place for many non-conformists. Today, only about 2,000 monuments of an estimated 123,000 internments remain.
Daniel Defoe’s monument
Daniel Defoe is best known as the author of Robinson Crusoe. And he was also a journalist, trader, and spy, and was often in trouble with authorities for his work. During his childhood, he lived through both the Great Plague and the Fire of London. He wrote Robinson Crusoe in his fifties, having written hundreds of pamphlets and journalistic articles. You may also be familiar with his novel Moll Flanders, with its scandalous story about the life of a woman involving prostitution, bigamy, incest, and adultery. Defoe died in 1731.
William Blake’s gravestone
William Blake died almost a decade after Defoe in 1827. Poet and printmaker Blake was largely overlooked in his lifetime. Now he’s a major figure of the Romantic Age. His prints for Dante’s Inferno, his poem The Tyger, and a host of other works have influenced countless artists and writers, including Thomas Harris, Philip Pullman, Alan Moore, and Tracey Chevallier.
I visited Bunhill Fields on an oddly warm morning before a work event and it felt a bit surreal. It feels tucked away in the shadow of tall buildings and leafy trees. The noise and bustle of traffic seem to disappear as you walk through the gate. Morning commuters were passing through, or even taking a quick stop for a moment of peace and a coffee on a bench. It’s very easy to find the two graves as the site is quite small, so if you’re in the area, it’s not worth dropping by.
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