Bunhill Fields
A peaceful old burial ground on the edge of the City, free, where William Blake, Daniel Defoe and John Bunyan all rest among the leaning Georgian headstones.
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The lowdown
Bunhill Fields was for centuries the burial ground for Dissenters, the nonconformists who would not bow to the Church of England, which means it gathered an extraordinary cast of radicals and writers. It is free, walled and beautifully calm, a green pause on the busy edge of the City.
The names are remarkable. William Blake, poet and visionary, is here. So is Daniel Defoe, who wrote Robinson Crusoe, and John Bunyan of Pilgrim's Progress. Their memorials sit among hundreds of leaning, lichened Georgian headstones packed close under big plane trees.
Office workers use the central path as a shortcut and a lunch spot, but step off it into the quieter fenced sections and it feels centuries old. A free, atmospheric and slightly melancholy corner most people stride straight past.
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