Literary London

Where the books were written, set, sold, printed and buried: from the Globe to the graves, the bookshops to the presses.

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Bunhill Fields

The Nonconformist burial ground where Blake, Defoe and Bunyan lie within a few yards of each other.

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Photo by Grenavitar, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Unconsecrated ground used by Dissenters from the 1660s until it closed in 1854, with around 120,000 burials in four acres. John Bunyan's tomb carries a reclining effigy added in 1862; the obelisk to Daniel Defoe was paid for in 1870 by the child readers of a Christian newspaper; and William Blake, buried in an unmarked common grave with his wife Catherine, got a new stone in 2018 on the exact spot, after two Blake Society members spent years working out where it was. Susanna Wesley and the hymn writer Isaac Watts are here too, under the plane trees, with the towers of the City behind.

Where
38 City Road, EC1Y 1AU
Nearest station
Old Street · 3 min walk

Daily, daytime

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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