Memorial maintenance
The responsibility for the safety and upkeep, including repairs to any gravestone or memorial, remains with the owner of the grave rights.
We recommend that grave owners get a guarantee from the Monumental Mason for all work they carry out and arrange for the Monumental Mason to check the memorial for defects every 5 years. Insurance for memorials is available from many independent insurers.
Memorial safety
We carry out regular inspections on all memorials in our cemeteries and the closed churchyards we maintain. Where these inspections have highlighted unstable memorials, we make them safe, by either laying them flat or supporting them with posts.
We appreciate that visitors to the cemeteries may find the laying down of a headstone distressing but we hope that people appreciate we do this in the interest of safety.
As the owner of the grave, you are responsible for the repair and maintenance of the memorial. You must arrange for a registered Monumental Mason to carry out any repairs.
Full details of how we manage the safety of the memorials in our sites can be found in our memorial management policy.
Headstone specifications
All headstones must be compliant with the current code of practice, as prepared by the National Association of Memorial Masons and all memorials erected must have approved ground anchors.
All memorials erected or placed upon the ground must have the corresponding grave space number placed on the side of the stone's base. The supplying firm may place their name on the memorial.
Full details of what memorials and the sizes allowed are available in our cemetery regulations document.