Burial Ground

Rules & Regulations for the Burial Ground

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CHERRY WILLINGHAM BURIAL AUTHORITY

RULES AND REGULATIONS

  1. The burial ground is open to the public daily.

  2. All visitors to the burial ground must act in a responsible manner and not cause any nuisance, distress, inconvenience, annoyance, or disturbance to anyone either visiting or working in the area.

  3. No unauthorised motor vehicles or motorcycles are allowed in the burial ground and bicycles must not be ridden. Dogs must be kept on a lead at all times and owners must clean up after them.

  4. Visitors must not damage or interfere with nor allow others to damage or interfere with any interment, property or fixtures belonging to the Council or any grave, headstone, memorial or other items left on a grave. 

  5. Any person wilfully destroying, defacing, or damaging any fence, tree, plant, memorial stone, or receptacle within the burial ground or unlawfully disturbing any person assembled in the burial ground for the purpose of interring a body or ashes, will be liable to prosecution.

  6. No personal gardening equipment is to be left at the burial ground.

  7. The consumption of alcohol, smoking and the use of any illegal substances at the burial ground is strictly prohibited.

  8. The taking of photographs, filming or recording in the burial ground during a burial or interment is not permitted unless written permission has been given by the Council.

  9. Playing of games or participation in any sport in the burial ground is strictly prohibited.

  10. The use or discharge of any firearm is strictly prohibited unless the discharge of firearms is in respect of a military funeral, for which prior agreement has been given by the Council.

  11. To ensure that grasscutting can easily take place flowers, plants, shrubs or any other object may not be planted or placed on the plot and the Burial Authority (Cherry Willingham Parish Council) reserves the right to remove any that are.

NOTICE PERIODS

  1. Notice for an interment, burial, installation/removal/amendment to a memorial must be made direct to the Clerk. The minimum notice periods are: 

Burial

7 days

Cremated remains

14 days

Memorial

14 days
 

 

Please note that burials/ interments of ashes at shorter notice may be approved at the discretion of the Clerk.

DEATH CERTIFICATES

A Registrar’s certificate, Coroner’s order for Burial or Certificate of Cremation for Burial Purposes must be delivered to the Clerk at the parish office no later than the day of interment. Any person failing to deliver such a certificate or order is liable to a penalty (Births & Deaths Registration Act 1926)

FEES

All fees are reviewed annually. 

INTERMENTS

  1. Interments must take place between the hours of 10am-4pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays 10am-12noon. Interments may take place outside these hours with agreement of the Clerk.

  2. Only coffin burials are permitted and the coffin must be made of a perishable material.

  3. Cremated remains may be interred in a casket or other receptacle made of a perishable material or scattered a minimum of 18 inches below the top of the plot.

  4. The scattering or burial of cremated remains without the consent of the Council is strictly prohibited and is liable to prosecution.

  5. In the case of cremated remains a maximum of two may be interred in a cremation plot and four in a burial plot in agreement with the Clerk. Ashes interred in a burial plot must be in a casket to ensure non disturbance of the remains if subsequent interments are approved.

  6. All interments must have a valid Exclusive Rights to Burial (ERB) which has either previously been purchased or is purchased with the plot and approved by the Clerk prior to interment. No transfer of the ERB can take place without the agreement of the Clerk and the correct paperwork being provided.

  7. All grave spaces will be allocated by the Clerk and a plan showing the locations will be retained at the parish office.

GRAVE DIGGING

  1. Responsibility for excavating the grave will rest with the funeral director and all excavations must follow current regulations in place.

  2. The plot will be marked a minimum of 1 day prior to the interment.

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

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

  5. In Block 4 of the burial ground all graves must have a two-foot space between each one.

  6. All graves in the burial ground are to be dug by an approved grave digger and all ashes plots are to be dug by a person approved by the Burial Authority.

  7. Following a burial the grave must be filled up with earth and the surface covered with fresh turf to form a level area after sinking. Any raised mounds will be notified to the funeral director to rectify. If the Burial Authority considers it necessary graves that are sinking may be topped with soil to form a level area.

RE-OPENING OF GRAVES

  1. Once interments have taken place a grave may only be opened in the following circumstances.

  2. For up to four successive interments of cremated remains (burial plot)

  3. For up to one successive interment of cremated remains only (ashes plot).

  4. For exhumation purposes – only by a court order for the same through the Home Secretary.

HEADSTONES/MEMORIALS/PERSONAL ITEMS

  1. For a memorial or headstone to be erected the purchaser must hold a valid ERB.

  2. Full details of the memorial to be erected must be sent to the Clerk for approval before installation can take place. Only a headstone, ashes memorial or stone receptacle for flowers may be allowed. If a vase and headstone are required the vase must be an integral part of headstone. Wood will not be permitted except as a temporary measure prior to a stone being sited.

  3. Any stonemason 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 and 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.

  4. Memorials must not be removed from the burial ground without prior approval of the Clerk and 14 days’ notice must be given prior to a memorial being installed to enable the plot to be marked. Any memorial that has been sited in the wrong place will need to be removed and repositioned at the memorial mason’s own expense.

  5. Burial headstones should be no more than 30’’ high x 24’’ wide x 4’’ deep on a base 4’’ high x 30’’ wide x 12’’ deep on a standard plinth not exceeding 36’ wide ’x 18’’ high  x 3’’ deep

  6. No cremation stone should be more than 22 inches high and a flat cremation stone should be no more than 24’’ x 24’’.

  7. Full details of the size/dimensions should be sent to the Clerk for approval. The Burial Authority reserves the right to refuse any application where the proposed headstone may cause issues or encroach into adjoining and/or surrounding plots.

  8. No wood, glass, ceramic, or other fragile items are to be left on the grave. The Burial Authority reserves the right to request the removal of any items left that may impact on the general maintenance or grass cutting around the grave and reserves the right to remove items should they not be removed following a request to do so.

  9. No kerb stones or foot stones are permitted. 

  10. No food items are to be left as a tribute. Any left will be removed to discourage scavenging by wildlife.

  11. If a memorial is found to be unsafe and dangerous the Burial Authority will make safe the area by cordoning off the grave or will lay the headstone down. The ERB owner will then be contacted where possible or a note placed on the headstone for the headstone to be repaired/refixed as appropriate. The ERB holder is responsible for all charges necessary in repairing/refixing the memorial. In the event the ERB owner cannot be located the Burial Authority reserve the right to remove the headstone if it is deemed dangerous.

FLORAL TRIBUTES

  1. Floral tributes may be left at any time but all dead flowers, wreaths should be removed and placed in the bins provided. To keep the burial ground looking tidy Christmas wreaths will be removed after 4 weeks and Easter flowers will be removed 4 weeks after Easter Sunday.

The Burial Authority reserves the right to close the burial ground to the public at their discretion and to alter/amend or update these regulations as it deems necessary.

Further information may be obtained by contacting the: 

Parish Clerk  

The Millennium Hall 

16 High Street

Cherry Willingham

Lincoln

LN3 4AQ

Telephone: 01522 753398

 

BY ORDER OF THE BURIAL AUTHORITY – CHERRY WILLINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL


 

Mrs Loo Clinkscales

Clerk of the Parish Council and Registrar to the Burial Authority



 

Updated: April 2024