Genealogy Chat

I would like to know what the law is on covering grave plots. Mt Great Great Grandfather died at the end of 1951 and was duly buried in the local cemetery in Wandsworth London. I wrote to the borough council requesting a search of their burial indexes for Him and my 2 of great grand parents (died early 1930's). The reply came back with the Cemetery, Plot number and grave number. But then said that the graves have been covered by private graves and are unable to be located. are they allowed to do this within living memory, my grandfather can remember both his parents and his grandfather and is upset that the graves are no longer there. I dont think that they have actually reused the plots but have built up a big embankment over the graves and are now burying people in this raised section.

Burial space has always been re-used. If you estimate numbers, many old churchyards must have been filled several times over in the days when non-gentry folk couldn't afford "permanent" memorials. The only way to reserve a grave plot is to pay for it

Kevin I'm googling it as we speak - found this so far: Any parishioner or person dying within a parish has the right to burial within the parish churchyard or burial ground of the ecclesiastical parish, subject to payment of the appropriate fee. Non parishioners may also be buried in the churchyard with the permission of the church council. The burial rights do not afford exclusive rights of burial at the burial site and there is no entitlement to choose a site within a graveyard or to construct a monument. An exclusive right of burial in part of a churchyard or consecrated ground can be obtained by a 'faculty' from the church or such rights may be retained upon land donated to a consecrated churchyard. A burial authority may grant - for an appropriate fee - an exclusive right of burial in a cemetery and the right to place and maintain or to place a tombstone or other memorial on the site. No other bodies may be buried or ashes scattered over the grave, without the consent of the owner of the right of burial. A grant of burial rights may be passed down by deed or will, but the person to whom the right is conferred must notify the burial authority of this assignment so that the interest can be registered. There are particular regulations (Local Authorities' Cemeteries Order 1974) concerning the grant of a burial right before 1st April 1974 for a period exceeding 100 years where the right has not been exercised during that 100 year period, which provide for circumstances in which the burial rights may be determined.

try this site: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/crg/crgcontext.htm it may be worth contacting them to find out exactly where you stand

Kevin it would depend on whether the graves were public graves or private graves. In the past exclusive rights of burial used to be issued on private graves for a 99 year period, however nowadays this is usually limited to 30 years. The burial authority rules concerning public graves could vary considerably from this, I'm really not sure as of course a public grave can contain up to 4 individuals none of which would be related to one another, and those who opt for burials in public graves waive the right to exclusivity and the right to erect a headstone. As a matter of interest (well to me anyway) I was reading today of a cemetery in Sheffield (now closed) where one public grave contained 90 bodies (yes, ninety). Goodness knows how the poor souls were buried. Jacqui

Kevin It would be nice to know what it actually says in the registers. Can you get to view them in person? As has already been said you could 'purchase' a grave for a certain amount of time and this is clearly stated in the registers (or it was in the ones I looked at). My Grandfathers entry in the registers had 'perpetual' written next to it. This means that our family will always have the right to be buried there. And going by what Zoe said I would think that they will not be able to do anything with regard to removing it or covering it up. Having said that in an older part of the same cemetery they did remove some of the older graves to widen a busy road running along side. I believe these graves were from the early 1800's though. But I must admit I did think that if there was a chance that there was a living relative they had to try and get in touch with them first. Jeanette