成人快手

GRAVE CONCERN FOR CEMETERIES - WEB CHAT

"The problem is with older memorials which just rest on the ground."

MAIN STORY

The dangerous condition of some cemeteries is causing grave concern in the North East and Cumbria.

John Knapton answers your questions about how we can cope with the growing crisis in our cemeteries.

John is a consultant engineer with a special interest in cemetery safety and land development.

Cemeteries and ossuaries

Q. How do ossuaries work in practice? 听Do the bones have to be a certain age to be collected and put there? 听Can ossuaries accommodate new bodies and bones? Are there any examples of modern ossuaries in Britain and is anyone seriously thinking of developing this idea? (Tony from Newcastle)

A. Because of the anti-grave robbing laws passed in the 19th century, it is illegal to disturb a grave. Therefore, we don't have any ossuaries.

In the past, bodies were buried for just long enough for the skeleton to be cleaned, then the skulls and thigh bones were transferred to the local ossuary. It was believed that if those bones were stored, that was sufficient to ensure resurrection.

Q. How deep can multiple graves go? 听Is there a limit to the number of layers of a grave and the number of people sharing a plot? (Dawn from Hexham)

A.The first body is placed at a depth of six feet. Three bodies can be placed in one grave, each at different depths. Going deeper would lead to difficulties in digging the grave. Most cemeteries are located in clay soil areas. Excavating deeper than six feet through clay can cause the sides to become unstable.

Q. Very interesting piece on the state of the UK's cemeteries and I agree that an urgent re-think on the way that we deal with our dead is needed. Indeed wasn't there a Working Party of MPs set up to look into the very same matter?

If the idea of ossuaries took the public's favour, then how would you see the likes of testimonials (headstones and the like) being dealt with. I would assume that folk would still want the graves marked until the bones were removed, so what would happen to the marker? Steve (Whitley Bay)

A. Certainly the French and many mainly Catholic countries take their cemeteries more seriously than we do. It seems to me that there are two alternatives for a memorial after the body has been removed from the cemetery. One would be to place the memorials in a public place - say a wall in the town square or the local park where the black granite could be an attractive feature.

Memorials are important historic evidence of changing social patterns so it would be wrong to discard them. The second alternative is the internet. There are already many Internet memorial sites and I can see a time when people place their final message on a server. The benefit is that anyone in the world can
then read it, although I'm not sure this is what the inventors of web browsers had in mind.

Steve adds:

I was in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris at the weekend and marvelled at the fact that it is so well looked after, even though it is a very old place of rest. A massive cemetery, the French certainly different ideas when it comes to taking care of the dead.

The graves are very substantial constructions with what appear to be "mini churches" covering the vaults. Additionally there are buildings in the cemetery which hold small compartments into which the cremated of relatives can be placed and then mounted with a facing plate to describe the inhabitant.

Q. How many sets of bones can you squeeze into the average ossuary? (Jenny, Whitehaven)

A. The ossuary which we filmed in Rothwell, Northants was about the size of a large lounge. It contained the bones of 1,500 people. But, only the thigh bones and the skull were kept because they were the bones which, it was believed, would ensure your physical resurrection one day.

Q. Are ossuaries expensive to set up? (Linda, Newcastle)

A. All of the existing historic UK ossuaries are in the crypts of churches - this seemed an appropriate place to be resurrected from the dead.

It might be worth considering using our redundant church buildings as ossuaries - it would seem more appropriate than turning them into discount carpet shops. They would be self financing in that the cost of your piece of ossuary shelf would be much less than the value of the grave which you made available.

Maintenance and bad weather

Q. Isn't the solution to toppling gravestones to make it compulsory for grave purchasers to buy more stable and higher quality tombstones? (Peter from Whitley Bay)

A. All cemetery authorities now require new memorials to have a "Newcastle Anchor". This is a device which fixes the memorial into the ground and can withstand a horizontal pushing force of 100kg (220lb).

The problem is with older memorials which just rest on the ground. They are sometimes toppled by vandals, sometimes by people pulling themselves up while tending the grave and sometimes by high wind.

Q. What will the effect of the recent flooding in Cumbria be on cemeteries? (Anne from Carlisle)

A. I think the flooding in itself won't have much effect, however, the heavy rainfall will change ground water levels and this could stop burials - it wouldn't seem right to be lowering someone into a flooded grave. Cemetery sites are chosen carefully to avoid this.

Q. Is the problem of falling tombstones worse in the North East and Cumbria where weather conditions are harsher in winter? 听Does the weather have any impact on the stability of gravestones? (David from Cumbria)

A. The weather does not really have a significant effect, although memorials can be blown over, vandalism and accidents are the most common reason for memorials toppling.

Wind forces depend upon the region of the country, whether the cemetery has an open aspect and whether the cemetery is in a valley or on a hilltop. Typically in the NE and Cumbria, the wind applies a force of about a tenth of a ton per square metre. This is the maximum force which a storm recurring every 50 years will apply.听

Cremation

Q. Do you think the government will ever make cremation compulsory unless the dead person carries a special exemption card or it's written into your will? (Andrew, Hexham)

No, people feel very strongly about their final resting place.
However, I do think that the government will allow cemetery authorities to disinter remains after 50 years for those graves not being tended. This would be sufficient to solve the problem because the population of the UK is not rising so we should then be able to make do with the cemeteries we now have.

The Newcastle Anchor

Q. Is the Newcastle Anchor available for use in all North East cemeteries yet? (Paul from County Durham)

A. Yes, all local cemetery authorities now require that the memorial is fixed with the anchor. Local memorial masons include one with all of their memorials.

Q. Should authorities spend more time getting tombstone owners to maintain their individual gravestones rather than the onus falling on cemeteries and local councils? (Jacky from Allendale)

A. Whilst cemetery authorities have the responsibility for testing and making memorials safe, the memorial proprietor (i.e. the owner) has the responsibility for strengthening it and maintaining it. The problem is that the average time for which a grave is tended is six years. This means that once a memorial has been tested and fails, it is laid down and sometimes it will never be re-erected. This is a problem which a government committee is presently investigating.

Moral grounds

Q. Isn't there likely to be resistance to shunting dead bodies around from many different religious groups? 听Living in a multi-cultural society shouldn't we be looking a range of solutions to suit differing attitudes to burial? (Ali from Newcastle)

A. There would be strong resistance to any legislation which forced people into any specific solution. Muslims will always require burial and Hindus will require cremation. Modern Christians arena's usually too concerned - for most, the previous belief in physical resurrection has been replaced with a belief in spiritual resurrection.

In today's largely secular society, many people would choose on the basis of price, the environment and convenience which, for many, are the factors which drive their three score years and ten.

Personally, I would like to feel that my skull would end its days in an ossuary. Having filmed in cemeteries, in crematoria and in an ossuary, I somehow found the ossuary more comforting with so many other skulls nearby.

Eco-burials

Q. Are eco-burials a solution to the shortage of cemetery land? And do eco-funerals and environmentally disposable coffins really make a difference to the environment? (Susan from Heaton)

A. Eco-burials are being developed as an option by many authorities - for example North Tyneside have an eco cemetery at Earsdon. If there was a mass movement in this direction, they too would soon be overfilled.

I think we need a multi-dimensional approach and I think the real answer to our full cemeteries is to remove the bones after say 50 years (unless the grave is still being tended) and re-use those cemeteries.

I do think cardboard eco-coffins make sense, both in the case of burial and cremation. Whatever, we have to face the fact that 600,000 people die in the UK every year and we just don't have room to bury the 280,000 who are not cremated year after year.

Cemeteries in general

Q. What's the average life of a cemetery? (John, Corbridge)

A. Cemeteries were first introduced in the 1830's - Highgate in London was the first. They were established to cope with the large populations migrating to the cities during the industrial revolution. Before that, nearly everyone was a Christian and were buried in the village churchyard - awaiting their resurrection.

The first cemeteries were commercial ventures but the burial companies soon went bankrupt - they hadn't taken into account the long-term cemetery maintenance costs. From the 1860s on they were taken over by local authorities and have existed in this way ever since. Of course, many more were developed in
the 20th century but very few cemeteries have been terminated, even though many are full. Even closing part of a cemetery is a major operation.

In the 1970's, part of Jesmond Cemetery was de-sanctified
in order to widen Jesmond Road. This involved reburial and a long
process of consultation.

Read the full feature on the cemetery and burial crisis.