Responsibility for gravestones in Local Authority Cemeteries

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi Everyone,
A few weeks ago I travelled to the North Norfolk coast with a very good friend of mine so that he could show me the grave of his grandparents that he'd not visited since childhood.  They were buried in 1958 and 1965 respectively in the same plot in the local town cemetery.  We were armed with the exact section and plot number, but when we stood in that precise place, there was just uninterrupted grass; and when we gazed around we noticed that there were indeed other gaps or spaces in the ordered lines.  All of the graves in this section had been used in a period 40-odd years ago.
Once we'd got over our disappointment, we began to wonder who exactly takes responsibility for anything happening to a fairly recent grave like this once the money has been paid over - is it the local authority, the undertaker, the stonemason?
We imagined that perhaps the soil underneath had not been very stable and the stone/s had perhaps toppled over and had eventually been removed.
Has anybody had similar experiences, or could answer any of these bemused questions?  There was no evidence of any vandalism whatsoever, by the way...
Very best wishes,
Keith

[casalguidi]

who exactly takes responsibility for anything happening to a fairly recent grave like this

Unless it is a private cemetery, it would be the local authority ................... unfortunately it happens everywhere (health & safety - though sometimes I wonder if it's to make the grass cutting easier)

This has happened a lot in our area (the cemetery that opened in 1928 more than the one that opened in 1857) and I've never even seen a notice in the local paper - I suppose they'd be entering one nearly every week if they did

Casalguidi

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks for that Casalguidi,
And obviously a more widespread occurrence than I imagined.  There's lots of interest and programmes on the TV at the moment about what a rough deal old people (and their families) are getting, these days, and maybe the same thing applies to some members of families quite recently buried...
Keith

[casalguidi]

Yes, I'm sure it is very much like that.  One of my families graves was orginally a head stone with a full length structure and an additional monument for my grandad who died WW2.  The gravestone had been there since the 1940s when grandad's brother died but the full length structure was only added in the 1960s when their mother died.  I never had the heart to tell my grandmother before she died that grandad's part was missing since the grave had been reduced to a headstone only

Casalguidi

[C P Rayson]

Hi

This is a very difficult subject, but I have found that many local authority cemeteries have within the rules for burial that the grave plot is available for a fixed peiod of time, in some cases as short as 25 years after which an additional fee has to be paid. Exactly what happens if the additional fee is not paid I do not know but I would assume that the plot is cleared and could at some point be available for reuse. See also the thread on the reuse of graves and the governments consultation exercise due to a lack of burial space nationally

Chris

[Keith Sherwood]

Chris,
All very interesting - did you mean there's a thread on Rootschat somewhere re re-use of graves, and if so where is it to be found?  I'd like to have a read of that!
Very best wishes,
Keith

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Keith,
I put reuse graves in RootsChat search and found this one:

Topic: Rules ?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,12661.0.html

I am sure it is not the only one. Try a few other word combinations

Bob

[Keith Sherwood]

Thanks for that Bob!
I'll have a general browse...
Keith

[C P Rayson]

Kieth

Try also a web search for uk sites using "reuse of graves consultation" this gises some government information and some of the responses to the request for consultation

Chris