Bunhill Burial Grounds
Today I visited the grave of one of my favorite poets, almost.
The Bunhill Burial Grounds is in the eastern half of London. Apparently the name “Bunhill” might be from “Bone Hill” as this area is reputed to have been a burial site for over a thousand years. There are several well known people buried here including John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and Thomas Bayes, who developed Bayes Theorem for determining the probability of a given event. According to the map I was very close to Rev. Bayes grave but his stone must be too deteriorated to be read, as are most of the graves in Bunhill.
John Bunyan’s Crypt
William Blake, the great poet, artist and mystic is also buried here though the exact position of his remains are not marked. Apparently he was interred in what is now a lawn surrounded by benches, a very peaceful place to read as I can attest. There are also some apartments with balconies which overlook the cemetery. Location. Location. Location!
Bunhill burial ground was nondenominational so it was used by many nonconformists, meaning someone who wasn’t part of the Church of England. That’s why so many great thinkers and artists are buried there. Nonconformity is simply a synonym for creativity.
After my visit I had lunch at the William Blake Pub about a block away and watched the Belgium – Tunsia World Cup match under the protective gaze of a portrait of Mr. Blake.
Happy Solstice! To celebrate I went the farthest north that I plan to go in London: Hampstead. While still accessible by underground, it feels very much like the smaller towns and villages that I’ve visited elsewhere in Britain. I walked through quaint old shops near the tube station, then through a residential area until I found Hampstead Heath. It’s a wonderfully wild large urban park, mostly tree covered but with some meadows, the highest of which offered a view of downtown London with it’s skyscrapers.
I asked one of the grounds crew why it was that some areas are nice and tidy and the rest are returning to their natural state. I had hopes that they operate on some sort of decadal schedule for which sections to work and which to leave fallow. Alas, the simpler answer was money. It’s a private cemetery and even with new burials and charging visitors an entry fee they can’t hire enough staff to maintain it all. Apparently the cemetery went completely bankrupt in the mid-twentieth century and place totally went to seed until the current trust bought it for one pound and while they’re still afloat, they are struggling.
The unexpected highlight for me was finding the grave of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I didn’t know he was buried here and when I found the grave I was delighted by the “42” marker and a collection of pens next to his tombstone. Being a poet I always have a pen at hand so I left mine in gratitude for the laughs he gave me back in college.
The rest of the grounds were pretty well maintained and while there are plenty of famous graves, none were famous to me. I noticed a 
Unless it’s in a cemetery, of course.
To further my poetry career,
