Barford St. Martin West Street Cemetery
BURIAL GROUND REGULATIONS
The following regulations shall apply to the cemetery in West Street, Barford St. Martin:
- The cemetery will be reserved for residents of Barford St Martin and for those with close links to Barford St Martin
- The surface of the burial ground should be of grass and it is the Parish Council’s responsibility to keep it mown and tidy.
- All new graves shall be finished such that they are level after year 1. All surplus soil shall be removed from the burial ground by the gravedigger.
- Records of burials shall be maintained by the Parish Clerk in the Burial Book where all grave spaces are numbered.
- Fees for burials are set out separately and are reviewed from time to time. The existence of fees for a type of burial shall not be taken to mean that such burials are permitted if they contravene the regulations herein.
- Designs for headstones and the general layout for graves shall be submitted to the clerk to the Parish Council for approval. Submissions shall set out the materials, style of lettering and inscriptions including any reference to the designer or maker of the headstone. The Parish Clerk will approve only designs that are simple and in keeping with a small Church of England cemetery. Guidance is included in 8 below. Temporary memorials shall be permitted the design of which shall be subject to the approval of the Parish Clerk.
- No headstone or cross shall exceed four feet in height. Memorials shall be only of natural stone quarried in England and crosses shall be only of English oak. No new graves shall be enclosed by kerbstones or covered with chippings.
- Burials of ashes may be commemorated by a stone measuring 12″ square for a single memorial and 15″ by 12″ for a double. The stone shall be set in the grass so that a mower can pass over it. Its material, style of lettering and inscriptions shall be subject to approval by the Parish Clerk who will also determine its location in the cemetery.
- Nothing except grass, bulbs and annual flowering plants may be planted on graves and only at the base of the headstone or cross.
- Fresh flowers, flowers in pots or wreaths may be placed on graves but the Parish Council reserves the right to arrange for their removal after a reasonable period.
- Appropriate and seasonal artificial flowers shall be permitted on graves or stones commemorating the burial of ashes but the Parish Council reserves the right to arrange for their removal after a reasonable period of time.
- No alteration or addition may be made to a memorial without the written consent of the Clerk to the Council.
- These regulations were reviewed and approved by the Parish Council on 22nd October 2019.
Signed
Clerk to the Parish Council