Who owns a church headstone

[saabina]

During some recent research at st tathan churchyard I found the headstone of the ancester I was looking for but the headstone due to its age has become broken in 3 peices and is just lying against a wall on the edge of the churchyard.  I would like to know who would own the headstone as I would like to find out if it would be possible to have the headstone  to keep it before it gets damaged any further.   Is it likely if I phoned the church they might let me have it if I proved the family connection. 

[suzard]

I would be very surprised if they did let you have the headstone - after all there will be other relatives - and I suspect you have no proof of ownership documents.

I was told a while ago - and have some details which I cannot find at the moment - but it should be requested that ownership be transferred.

e.g. my mother died and my father bought the burial plot and the headstone -with room in and on it for him. So the plot and headstone belonged to my father (the plot only for so many years)

My father died -was buried with mum - his name was put on the headstone. The headstone still really belongs to my father -as i never requested or organised change of ownership - didn't realise at the time.

There are of course lots of other rules and regs

Suz

[aghadowey]

The rules regarding headstones and graveyards vary from place to place so you would need to check with that particular church although I've never heard of a church allowing a relative (proven connection or otherwise) being allowed to take away an old headstone.

[saabina]

Thanks for the advice.  The people on the headstone died in 1868 and 1888 so would the age make any difference.  I thought is was unlikely I would be able to get the headstone but just to add something what happens if a headstone becomes so damaged or dangerous it has to be completely removed from the churchyard. 

[aghadowey]

At the very least you can request that the church moves the headstone somewhere so it will not suffer any further damage.

[maidmarion]

Hi
When the chapel where my gt grandparents were buried was recently pulled down, some of the "occupants" and their stones had to be moved.  

I was the only descendent that expressed an interest and I requested the stone be moved to the cemetery where the reinterment was to take place, but it was an option for me to take the stone away and do whatever I had wanted with it.

I appreciate these circumstances are rather unusual and I wonder how many other people have a  reinterment listed as a fact on their family tree:

I think I would be sad to think an ancestor's gravestone had been claimed and taken away by someone


maidmarion

[stanmapstone]

As far as the safety of a monument is concerned, the responsibility rests with the owner, who, in law is the person who set it up, and after that person's death, the heirs of the deceased to whom the monument relates.

Stan

[Lydart]

We safety check all gravestones in the churchyard twice a year (at least the ones not vertical !) ... to make sure they are safe and not wobbley.  Any that we consider dangerous we try and contact the family ... after so many months, and fruitless searching, we lay the stone flat to prevent it falling on someone ... and the church being sued !   Any that we deem very dangerous on inspection are laid flat anyway, and the family contacted if possible.