Middlesex Burials (New Bunhill Fields)

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Transcription and conventions used

This transcript includes 10,972 burials from New Bunhill Fields, Islington, Middlesex.

Variously known as Jones burial Ground and Little Bunhill Fields, this was an unconsecrated nonconformist burial ground which lay on an acre of land behind Church Street (now Gaskin Street) and numbers 17-33 Essex Road, stretching to Islington Green at the rear of the former Collin's Music Hall.

The original Islington Chapel, built in 1788 had a small graveyard attached to it, and in 1817 the Rev Mr Jones bought No 5 Church Row and converted the garden and paddock into a burial ground. The original graveyard then became known as the Upper Ground.

The Burial Ground was closed on 31st December 1853 by Order in Council, by which time it was estimated that there were about 15,000 bodies there. As the ground was unconsecrated it did not come under ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and Evan Jones hoped to convert it to other purposes and began to remove bones and gravestones. After local protest, the matter was passed to the Attorney and Solicitor General and owners of vaults were advised to take out private injunctions.

Jones appeared at Clerkenwell Court in November 1856 when witnesses told of bodies being disinterred at night and kept overnight in Jones's house before removal. The owners of vaults claimed that no permission had been granted for the removal of their relatives. An Order in Council had been made on 3rd February 1858 stating that "... it is hereby ordered, that the said closed burial ground of Bunhill-fields, in the parish of Islington, be covered with soil not less than two feet deep and planted with growing vegetation or sown with grass seed, except such part of it as may be used for walks, which shall be covered with asphalte or other impervious material; and it is further ordered that no soil in the said burial-ground which has been buried in be disturbed."

Nevertheless, discussion and discord continued and the Vestry took no action: the ground was used as a playground and rubbish tip. By 1873 it was reported that Jones had hired men to clear the ground for building, despite the fact that his application had been refused by the Metropolitan Board of Works. Unfortunately the Home Office confirmed in August of that year that the 1858 Order in Council was not valid since New Bunhill Fields was private unconsecrated ground: the churchwardens were powerless to act unless an actual nuisance was caused.

Eventually, the ground was concreted over and became part of Anderson's timber yard. Not until the 1990s was permission finally obtained to allow building on the former burial ground, and in May 1996 the firm of Necropolis Ltd. removed the remaining bodies for re-interment at Trent Park Cemetery, Cockfosters. [A number of coffin plates were found, now with the Museum of London at their London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre, and an archive report was written by Adrian Miles, Ref ARCH2161.]

The surviving registers of New Bunhill Fields are held at the London Metropolitan Archives: the first burial book appears to have been lost and the first entry in the second register references NBF/1 is dated 7th Janury 1831. There is a note stating that there were 1,277 interments in the old ground (now called Upper Ground) as per Register Book commencing 27th July 1802.

The names, ages and addresses of those buried have been transcribed, but not the details of the actual burial position in the ground, though some family vaults were noted.

Each record includes the following information:-

  • Date of burial in day/month/year format
  • Forenames
  • Surname
  • Age at death
  • House number
  • Address
  • Notes – contains such things as "Family vault", "Mr Powell's family vault" etc.
  • LMA Ref – Reference at the London Metropolitan Archives in the format B/NBF/1 - X099/297 etc: B/NBF/1 is the reference for the original register - in this case book one); and X099/297 is the matching microfilm number.

Text in double brackets indicate deletions e.g. ((John)) shows that the word "John" was crossed through and another word written alongside.

Coverage

New Bunhill Fields, Islington, Middlesex is the only area covered in this database.

Checking

All the transcript entries are fully checked.

Grouping

There are no record groups in this database.

Abbreviations and Codes

The Chapman County codes have been used. The code for Middlesex is 'MDX'.

Contact details

Please contact Middlesex records via FamilyHistoryOnline contact page.

How to buy

There is no alternative purchase option for this information and it is not included in the National Burial Index.

The second edition of the National Burial Index with 13.2 million burials and a flexible search program is available in a package of four CD-ROMS from many family history societies and GENfair, the online bookshop of the Federation of Family History Societies (Publications) Ltd.

Copyright and disclaimer

© June Daborn who is also the maker of the database and holds the Database Rights.

While every care has been taken in the preparation of the index users are advised to view the originals of the appropriate registers (or facsimiles thereof, e.g. microfilm) and to form their own interpretation. Neither Middlesex Records nor June Daborn accept any liability for any errors or omissions that remain (although they would welcome notification of alternative interpretations of the registers.)

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