cemeteries after closure

[vicious_sid]

After a cemetary is deconsecrated and given an alternative use i.e a public park, the bodies are usally moved, but where to?

I'm sorry if this question is in the wrong category but I was unsure of which one to place it

[phizzy]

mornin' vicious, i always presumed to another cemetery, can't think where else would be suitable, makes you wonder how long there will be room for us all.

[Mr Veritas]

Just a few points:~
Churchyards (surrounding a church) ARE consecrated.
Cemeteries (usually Council owned) are NOT.
In our own area we have two parks that used to be cemeteries.
All that happened was,the gravestones were moved to the boundaries of the cemetery,like a wall; and the turf was smoothed out and mowed.
The bodies were left where they were.
The council has a plan as to where the burials are,so if a relation wishes to find where the body lies now, they can.
No bodies were moved from these two cemeteries,but of course other area councils may have different rules.

[tamborine]

If a grave is bought surely it becomes the property of the purchaser & heirs?

[Mr Veritas]

Further to tamborine's great point.
Our council would have been obliged by law to contact all family members of persons interred in the cemetery before moving any bodies.
As some of thes burials date back to the 1850's,this proved(in about 90% of cases) to be impossible.
Even where they did trace the relevant family member,where (as tamborine says) they owned the plot,the council was/is powerless to move the body/remains without permission.
So they did the only thing possible,turfed the burial areas and made it into a park.

[phizzy]

yes you 'buy' a grave plot , but you only have 'ownership' for so long, more like a lease, not sure but 99 years comes to mind.

[vicious_sid]

Thanks for all your answers, they're all greatly appreciated but the reason i asked this question was that I caught part of the BBC programme "violent highway" and part of the programme mentioned that a local London cemetary had been converted to a park and the bodies had been moved but the headstones had been left in place

Maybe phizzy was right, their 99 years were up and they had all been evicted :-)

[tamborine]

Parents cemetery has just been reprieved from Heathrow's 5th terminal...... for now - I might be interned there waive when you fly over me ;)

http://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/yoursay/blogs /cherrylane/3798686.Save_Cherry_Lane_Cemetery/