Hi all
I used to be a Open Spaces/Cemetery Manager for a few councils and may be able to shed a bit of light on this, (if you look on the link Berlin-Bob posted I've quite a long post on there).
Basically what happens is you buy a plot approx 6x2feet and 1,2,3 or 4 spaces deep and you get given the grave deeds which can last for 25-100 years. Incidentally in any sort of family dispute over the grave the person who holds the grave deeds has the final say
Once a person has been buried ,after a period of time to allow for subsidence a headstone/memorial can be erected, ( the time lapse depends on the type of soil). There are usually regulations as to Height & width which are laid down in the cemetery rules and can vary from authority to authority.
When someone wants to erect a headstone they first contact a mason and discuss what they want, then an application is sent in to the cemetery from the mason, which is checked to make sure it complies and has the grave deed holders consent.
The space in front of the headstone is the responsibility of the family/grave deed holder and can vary in size from approx 2' to six ' again depending on the authority. The smaller size is usually to make mowing easier and very few full length stone surrounds are allowed these days.
In the early years after a burial, problems with the headstones are between the family and the mason but after longer period of time has elapsed and it appears no one is attending to the grave then the council/authority have to act.
This is done by writing to the last known address of the grave deed holder and they are given a certain period of time to make good any repairs, which is usually a case of the headstone being unstable. If nothing has happened after the time period then the headstone is made safe. Unfortunately the easiest and cheapest way to do this is to lay the headstone flat ( councils could never afford to pay masons to do the repairs- one cemetery I was at had over 70,000 burials). Some cemeteries have now started laying concrete beams in the burial plots and this does away with problems of subsidence.
The problem is,as some mentioned earlier, the compensation/health and safety culture we now live in and councils/authorities are scared of falling foul of this- a large part of many councils highways department budgets are put aside for claims from people tripping over broken paving stones.
As for missing headstones the two main causes are vandalism and accidents when mowing/digging graves.
Some councils have removed the headstones altogether from graveyards/cemeteries under their care, again probably for H&S reasons.
Hope this has helped a bit and makes sense.
Mick
