Crowd sees headstone to poet Blake unveiled

Hundreds of people attended the unveiling of a gravestone marking the exact resting place of artist and poet William Blake yesterday, nearly 200 years after his death

Blake, who wrote the words to the hymn Jerusalem, died in obscurity in 1827 and was buried in an unmarked common grave in Bunhill Fields in London.

A memorial stone in the cemetery records that the artist is buried nearby but the exact site of Blake’s final resting place was not rediscovered until 2006.

The Blake Society raised £30,000 to pay for a new headstone, which was unveiled yesterday, the 191st anniversary of his death.

Trustee of the Blake Society Gareth Sturdy said: “I can’t tell you how relieved I am because it’s been the end of many years of work.

“And we really didn’t know how many people were going to turn up.

“We didn’t know if we were going to have four, five people, or as you can see, the hundreds that have turned up. So that’s wonderful.

“And it’s been quite a difficult journey to get such an important monument placed in such a historic burial site. And it’s done.”

Nick Duncan, another trustee, said: “It matters that we recognise those who have contributed to our cultural heritage, and no creative genius has influenced people to the extraordinary extent as William Blake. Yet almost two centuries after his death, Blake’s grave is unmarked.”