Burial Ground

Rules and Regulations

1. The burial ground is open to the public daily from 9 am until sunset.  Children under 12 years of age are not to enter the burial ground unless under the care of a responsible person.  All visitors are expected to keep on the footpaths and to refrain from touching the trees or flowers.  They are to observe perfect decorum in all respects.  NO MOTOR VEHICLES OR RIDDEN BICYCLES are allowed in the burial ground.  Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a lead. The burial ground is private and is NOT a public footpath.

2. Any person wilfully destroyTing, defacing or damaging any fence, tree, plant, memorial stone or receptacle within the burial ground will be liable to prosecution.

3. Any person playing any game or sport, discharging firearms, save at military funeral, or wilfully and unlawfully disturbing any persons assembled there for the purpose of interring a body or ashes, or who shall commit any nuisance within the burial ground, will be liable to prosecution.

4. Flowers, plants or shrubs may not be planted on plots and the Burial Authority (Cherry Willingham Parish Council) reserves the right to dig up and remove any planted there.

5. Notices of Interments in the burial ground must in the first instance be given to the Parish Clerk, who will give any information as to the choice of position required.  The day and hour of a funeral should as far as practicable be fixed with the officiating minister before the necessary 2 days notice is given to the Parish Clerk.

6. The notice is to contain the forenames and surnames and the age of the person to be buried, the date and place of death, the date and time that the burial is to take place, the name of the minister intended to officiate and whether a new plot is required or if the body is to be placed in an existing grave.

7. The Registrar’s Certificate of the death of the person to be buried, or the Coroner’s Warrant where an inquest has been held, or a Certificate of Cremation for Burial Purposes must be sent to the Parish Clerk as soon as possible after the interment of the body or ashes.

8. Burials may take place on Mondays to Fridays 10 am to 4 pm inclusive and Saturdays 10 am to 12 noon inclusive.  A burial may be permitted outside these hours following discussion with the Parish Clerk.

9. All fees to be sent to the Parish Clerk as soon as possible after the burial details have been finalized.

10. Plots will be allocated in order of the next one available.  We regret that choice of plot location is not possible. Plots cannot be pre-sold.

11. Only coffins made of a perishable material can be allowed.

12. When more than one body is interred in any grave, a layer of earth at least one foot (0.30 meters) in thickness is to be left between the two coffins.

13. Only one body at one time is to be buried in a grave unless the bodies are those of members of the same family.

14. No coffin shall be buried in any grave within 3 feet 3 inches (one meter) of the ordinary level of the ground.

15. Where applicable the consent in writing of the owner of any interment in an existing purchased vault or grave must be given to the Parish Clerk with the notice of burial.  No purchaser of rights shall convey, assign or transfer such rights without the sanction of the Burial Authority having been first obtained and a conveyance, assignment or transfer of a purchased grave from a parishioner to a non-parishioner will only be allowed upon payment of such a sum to the Burial Authority as would with the amount paid on the original purchase be equivalent to the double fees.

16. All graves and cremation plots in the burial ground are to be dug by an approved gravedigger.  

17. Whenever a burial has taken place the grave shall be forthwith filled up with earth and the surface shall be covered with fresh turf to form a level area after sinking.

18. The Burial Authority reserves the right, after a reasonable period of time, to level any grave space it considers necessary.

19. A register of the Burials will be kept at the office of the Parish Clerk where at all reasonable time’s searches may be made and certified extracts obtained.

20. No coffin shall be removed after burial without the consent of the Home Secretary.

21. Application to erect a memorial must be submitted to the Clerk when full details of size etc should be given.

22. Work cannot commence at the burial ground until approval notice is given.

23. The only form of memorials allowed is a headstone or a stone receptacle for flowers.  If a vase and headstone are required the vase must be an integral part of the headstone.  Wood will not be allowed in any form except as a temporary form prior to a stone being sited.

24. A stone mason working in Cherry Willingham Burial Ground must be a member of either BRAMMS or NAMMS  to meet Health & Safety regulations. All memorials shall be erected on a proper foundation.

25. No wood, jars, bottles, rockery stone, gravel, fencing, plastic pots, plant holders or similar are to be placed on or around the grave.  The Parish Council may remove, without notice and dispose of anything that contravenes this regulation.

26. Christmas wreaths and tributes will be removed on the 1st February and Easter tributes will be removed 5 weeks following Easter Sunday

27. Masons and other persons employed in connection with memorials will be held responsible for any damage done by them either to the ground or any memorial erected within the burial ground.

28. Memorials must not be fixed in unsuitable weather or whilst the ground is in an unfit state.  The decision of the Parish Clerk in determining unsuitability is final.

29. The Burial Authority reserves the right to close the burial ground to the public at their discretion.

30. The Burial Authority reserves the right from time to time to make any alterations in the foregoing regulations.

31. Notes for the guidance of persons purchasing a grave or cremation plot are displayed on the burial ground notice board.  A copy is attached to these rules and regulations.

32. Further information may be obtained from the Parish Clerk at the Parish Office.

The Millennium Hall, 16 High Street, Cherry Willingham, Lincoln, LN3 4AQ

Telephone: 01522 753398

BY ORDER OF THE BURIAL AUTHORITY – CHERRY WILLINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk of the Parish Council and Registrar to the Burial Authority

Updated April 2021