Communal Grave and Un-purchased Grave - whats the difference?

[Jomot]

I recently enquired about burial records for two ancestors buried in different cemeteries in the same town & was advised that one was a communal grave and the other an un-purchased grave. 

I understand that in both cases no-one would hold the exclusive burial rights, but I don't really understand the difference between communal & un-purchased. Can anyone enlighten me please?

[Kay99]

The purchase of exclusive rights of burial meant the family had purchased the right to bury other family members in the grave- if space remains - and erect a headstone (subject to approval of the detials of the stone)

Without this purchase other unrelated people could be buried in the same grave if there was space

Kay

Edit - Sorry - this doesn't really answer your question

[cemetery friends]

A Communal Grave was usually allocated to a workhouse or local hospital and bodies were buried over a period of time [often referred to as a pauper's grave]. The grave would be unmarked except in some cases a marker number in wood or a metal plate but no names shown or dates [cholera graves sometimes record the year eg 1832]. The deceased are sometimes shown by only their initials rather than a name in the burial record of the cemetery. Additionally the term is sometimes used when there are multiple burials say from cholera, a shipwreck or explosion so the deceased were not necessarily of a poor background but all died at the same time or period. Another variation is what are known as Guinea Graves where people subscribed a weekly fee to a Burial Society. The Society would purchase a large plot capable of 20 or more burials which would then be filled over a period of time. The Society would hold the Burial Rights. As and when the large plot filled the Society would then add headstones with the 20 or so names inscribed. Poor families often subscribed as it was seen as undignified to end up in an umarked pauper grave.
An "unpurchased grave" in general terms is the same as a Public or Communal Grave where the council or cemetery owner holds the rights and this prevents families erecting kerbs or headstones but is occasionally used when the burial rights expired after the agreed time and the family either neglected to renew the lease or could not afford to do so [or simply were not interested]. At some stage the cemetery may allow further burial [assuming there is room] and a headstone if it existed is turned the "wrong" way so detail of the newly deceased is then shown on the front of the stone.

[Jomot]

Thank you CF for that very comprehensive reply. Much appreciated.

I'm still a little puzzled as to my two though as the one I would have thought the most likely candidate for a communal grave is in the un-purchased & vice versa.  Perhaps the 'guinea grave' is the answer.

Hmmm. I shall have to ponder this some more......