Art v Mammon

Had a bit of time between meetings so went for a very informative poke round an historic part of London on the borders of the City.

I was really looking forward to exploring Bunhill Fields, a burial ground with a Nonconformist history. It was really disappointing. It's managed by the City of London and is a Grade 1 Listed site, but I thought it was really quite dingy. William Blake, Daniel Defoe, John Bunyan are all buried here. It all felt a bit unloved. Bunyan's grave was surrounded by litter.

This photo shows a monument to Defoe (the obelisk) next to Blake's grave (with the flowers in front) next to hideous standard issue municipal litter bins and all dwarfed by an enormous modern apartment block (where a 2 bedroom apartment can be yours for a cool half a million pounds).

It made me sad to think we can't venerate some of our most famous writers in a better way. I suppose at least their graves haven't been bulldozed altogether.