There is an "owner of the Grave"-who is the person who has the Grant of Exclusive Right of Burial - as I understand this-it is "owned" by the person who pays the fee and obtains the document and registers themselves with the council (or burial ground owner). This grant usually lasts for a period of 50 -100 years. headstones can only be erected which adhere to the regulations of the burial ground and can only be moved with the permission of the registrar.
The cemetery where my grandparents were buried was to be taken for a road widening scheme (which never took place), but all of the headstones were moved from the cemetery and placed around the walls of the local churchyard -a notice was posted in the local paper stating this was to happen -and of course noone knew who held the grant of Exclusive right ( the owner is supposed to register with the local authority and notify of change of address etc ). The headstones will be treated with as much care as possible, but there are always those which crumble when being moved, but records are kept (often by volunteers) of memorial inscriptions.
Hope you can understand this -it is complicated -and I do tend to ramble!
It's not the same as being able to go to THE place though, is it?
My great grandfather is buried under a car park -the chapel took the burial ground to make a car park!!!!
One of the reasons I think family History is important is so that our ancestors are remembered in some way -after all they toiled and lived their lives paving the way for us!
Suz
