Protecting our gravestones and memorials

[toad]

I think I may have opened Pandora's box with this subject
I too have seen the wanton mess the council here are making of the graves.They are in the process of going around sticking hazard signs on the ones that don't look too safe,saying the stone will be laid flat if no one does anything with it. I have the feeling this is not really for the benefit of those of us who use the graveyards sensibly, but so the children and Vandals that go to "play" in them don't get hurt and sue the council! What I can not understand is why all of a sudden some of these grave stones that are well over 100 years old are falling over?? O.K. wherever the ground is sinking that can be the cause but again a lot of it is the gangs that gather, leave beer cans and destroy what was once a sacred place Of all the cemetery's I have visited in the last few weeks ,the one I found well kept and with no stones falling over was the one were my hubby's grandparents are buried in Childwall,Liverpool. There are graves dating back to the early 1700's in this churchyard.

[Andi R]

The cemetry I was in the other day had a few graves with red tape around, you just mentioned people sueing the council if they fall on you.  Legally if you know something is not safe you should make the risk "As Low As Reasonably Possible" (ALARP in the engineering world) immeadiatly, therefore if they know it's not safe just putting a sign on doesnt cover them infact it would make it worse for them

The thing is some places I have seen support stones with steel bars at the back or in one cemetery I have been to, the bases of dodgy ones have been concreted in place - its only a few cubic feet of concrete, and 10 minutes to knock up a wooden frame for a re-usable mould, and surely it would be easier to cut the grass round an upright grave raher than one laid down

I saw a war grave the other day that had been painted white, council not bothered to clean it - as they are paid to do

andrew

Another thing is it must take as much work to lay a stone down as to straighten it up

And yes why are they all falling over?  machines that cut the grass perhaps, I've spent hours in graveyards (hey Im a sunderland fan, its more exciting) I've never seen one fall over

[D ap D]

My grandmothers brother died about 10 years ago. All his children have grown up and moved away, and only visit the grave infrequently.

My mum was passing through the town a couple of weeks ago and popped in to put some flowers on the grave. There was a note on the stone saying the stone was deemed to be unsafe and if not repaired by such and such a date, it would be removed.

As I said, the stone is about 10 years old, is a municipal cemetery, owned and run by the council. The stone was even erected by council workers. I fail to see that if the work was carried out properly in the first place, why within such a (relative) short space of time the descendants should be made to cough up.

With older cemeteries, especially those from 18th / 19th century in industrial areas, subsidence is a problem as industry declines, especially those industries which required large quantities of water. It has been proven that since the London brewing industry has collapsed, the extraction of ground water had been reduced and hence the ground water table is contantly rising. This will also have an effect on older buildings and structures, and will also affect headstones from the earlier period.

As these are in effect cultural monuments, cannot lottery money be allocated instead of for nonsense like "Angel of the North" in Gateshead and "B for Bang" in Manchester?

[Andi R]

I wonder, if the angel of the North started to list if they'd put a sign on that or if it would be repaired

Good point D ap D

[Willow 4873]

Badly kept graveyards drive me nuts. If they can afford to spend money on stupid things like statues then they can afford to look after the graveyards - maybe some of these twits that they end up giving community service to could be roped in

Holy Trinitys graveyard in Heath Town, Wolverhampton is ok in someplaces but the one section is so overgrown that it just looks like a hill with only some of the taller monuments sticking out of it. They even had the cheek to post notices round saying that they were only responsible for the verges and it was up to relatives to look after the graves - yeah if we can find them!. My great grandparents are in there somewhere if I can find them and dont even start me on about the one in Coseley!

Bilston is well looked after and there always seems to be people wandering around there although there is a crop of the dreaded 'unsafe stone' notices that have appeared. Merridale and Bushbury are also well looked after.

Also can anyone suggest anything for looking after a wooden gravestone? There is one in Bilston Cemetary dating from the 1920s which is starting to split. Its not one of my rellies but I'm willing to take over the care of it before it gets too worse

Willow x

[apanderson]

I've just recently heard that there's a proposal to build a new high school on vacant land right next to the local cemetery. At the moment the cemetery is really well kept but I dread to think what'll happen if and when a school is built.

The cemetery is in tiers and the only 'vandalism' is rabbits and badgers burrowing, which makes some of the stones unstable. So far, when a stone topples, the council workers have tried to prop them up as near to the original spot as they can but some of the older, larger ones, would be impossible to reposition without bringing in some sort of lifting gear and that's obviously not an option.

I must admit, many an hour I've enjoyed watching rabbits scurrying about digging holes all over the place but I don't know how much my opinion would change if the wee devils were digging up a family plot!

Anne

[matt94]

Don't mean to be a moan but you should really see the state of the graves at Basildon Church in Berkshire. The stones are terrible; the churchwardens 'have to let the wildlife flourish' within the churchyard - but surely we need some respect for the dead?

For example, my great-grandparents are buried there, along with most of their brothers and sisters, the last in 1964. Even this gravestone is no-where to be found. The church was effectively 'abandoned' in 1970 when the new church was built in Basildon (st Stephens) but that doesn't mean that generations of family should be forgotten about to let the wildlife live there?

Brambles, stinging nettles, reeds, trees in the middle of gravestones growing through the resting places of many a Basildon inhabitant - why? The only graves that are in some sort of order are those sheltered by trees - a select few in the back corner. The oldest gravestone there that I have seen is 1910 under a tree in the back corner, and then 1804, of Sir Francis Sykes 2nd Bt who has a marvellous grave - but wanton vandalism has destroyed the outlying metal guard.

I'm sorry to have a rant but it really is sad that council's have no respect for those who actually built the country the way it is. 

Matt

[BumbleB]

I read somewhere, and I can't think where, that some local council has, or is threatening to do so, flattened all the gravestones, and TURFED over them!!!!  

Luckily I've been able to take photographs of most of my ancestors' gravestones, even those laid out in pathways, so at least I've got the evidence, but a lot of other people haven't or won't have that opportunity.

Unfortunately we now live in such a money-orientated world that everything is controlled by accountants!

BumbleB

[Preshous]

Matt

If we don't have a rant then no one will take any notice of us. I am sick and tired of seeing our graveyards being left to rot. Our fore fathers built, fought, and died for our country its about time we gave them something back. Below is a photograph of a gravestone to the memory of a soldier who died in the second world war, lest we forget, yeah right. This picture was taken in the middle of winter, you can just imagine what it will look like in the hight of summer.

Gary