The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-10-23 00:00:00

BUNHILL FIELDS, LONDON.

This ancient burial ground, associated with PO much
that is deeply interesting in the history of earlier and
less pea.teful times, and which was known anciently
as Bunhill or " Bone-hill" Fields, was reopened on
Thursday afternoon in last week, by the Right Hon.
James Clarke Lawrence, M.P., Lord Mayor of Lon-
don. The ground was closed in 1852, and at that
date more than 120,000 persons had been interred
therein, including many men of note. In the year
18t; the ground was committed by act of parliament
to the care of the corporation of London, by whom it
was planted and restored for public resort. 'I he ground
at Bunhill-fields has been usually regarded as a last
resting.place of deceased Nonconformists, and it was
termed by Si tuthey "the Campo Santo of the Dis-
senters ;" hut, in truth, almost every denomination of
Christians has found a resting place for its dead within
the wall, of the well.known cemetery in the Coy-road.
In 1549 more than one thousand cart-loads of human
remains were removed from the charnel of St. Paul's,
and deposited an the Bunhill.fields burial.ground,
which was termed a " church-yard "in ltitZ, in the
inscription placed over the western gates, the term im-
plying that the ground was regarded as consecrated
for episcopal interments at that date. Dignitaries and
clergymen of the Oburch of England officiated in the
ground for two hundred years. Remen.bering the asso-
ciations connected with Bunhill.fields it may well be
imagined that the re-opening of the ground by the
chief magistrate of London on Thursday created much
interest.
The Lord Mayor, accompanied by Alderman and
Sheriff Causton, Mr. Sheriff Valsntin, and the Tinder-
:Sheriffs, went in state from the Mansion-house to
attend the ceremony. They proceeded first to the
Royal Military barracks in Finshnry, and were thence
escorted to the ground by the Earl of Shaftesbury,
Mr. Alderman Wilson, Mr. Alderman Finnis, Mr.
Charles Reed, M.P., Mr. Charles Gilpin, M.P., Mr.
John Holmes, M.P., the Chamberlain of London (Mr.
Scott), the various Chairmen of the Corporate n Com-
mittees, the Rev. William Rogers, rector of Bishops-
gate, the Rev. Dr. Brock, the Town Clerk of London
(Mr. Woodthone), Mr. NV. F. Rock, Mr. G. S.
Nottage, Mr. It. N. Philipps, and by the members of
the Preservation Committee appointed by the Corpo-
cat ion.
The opening ceremony, which from the memories
clustering around RO many illustrious men who "rest
in peace there, was of more than ordinary interest,
terminated by the Lord Mayor declaring the ground
to be "open for ever."
In the evening the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress
entertained the principal persons who had taken part
in the proceedings at dinner, at the Mansion-House.

Re'etring to the opening ceremony of this ancient 'char-
-sel-house," the Daly Sews, in a leader, says:—
The Civic ceremonial of Thursday had an interest
for a far wider public than any merely municipal event
etfecG The burying ground in Buniiill-
tickle, which is now dedicated to the public use RA one
of the ornamental spaces of the Metropolis, is one of the
consecrated spots of Englnh history. In snatching it
from the grasp of the Ecclesiastical Commission, and
restoring it to the public, the Corporation of London
have not merely saved an open space from the builders,
but have rescued one of the sacred spots of London
from desecration and mini,.
Bunhill-tields has been aeseciated with many of the
historic names and the historic netleB of England. It '
is not ht.- an obscure village burial ground, nor a mere
city churchyard. It is one of the spots on which his-
tory has set its mark ; a place which in sacred to the
memory of a past of which every Englimhman is proud.
No time will wear out the interest which is felt in the
people buried there. Their names will never become
entirely strange, nor their memories be lost in oblivion,