Bunhill Fields
What it is
A cemetery half a mile from Slough House, where William Blake’s grave lies out in the open under a small headstone shared with his wife Catherine. The cemetery is locked, and Lamb has a key.
Book 1 — Slow Horses
- C11 — Lamb names the grave as the rendezvous after the Waterloo house.
- C14 — The horses gather here before dawn: River alone, then Min, Louisa and Ho, then Lamb with Catherine and a bacon sandwich. Lamb explains the frame and splits the team.
Why it matters
The novel’s one moment of company. It is also a joke about the Service’s self-image: a burial ground for dissenters, used as a briefing room by a man who has decided which side of the institution he is on.
Open questions
Whether Lamb chose it for the symbolism, the privacy, or simply because he has a key. The text lets all three stand.