HOUND PARISH COUNCIL
BURIAL GROUND RULES
INTRODUCTION
These Regulations have been made by Hound Parish Council acting as the Burial
Authority for the Parish of Hound (‘the Council’).
All enquiries regarding the Burial Ground should be directed to the following address:
Mrs Sue Hobbs
Parish Clerk
Hound Parish Council
22 Station Road
Netley Abbey
Southampton
SO31 5AF
Tel:02380 453732
Fax: 02380 457471
E-mail: clerk@houndparishcouncil.org
Website: www.houndparishcouncil.org
RULES AND REGULATIONS
Behaviour
1.
Any person may officiate at interments provided the service or ceremony be
decorously conducted and in conformity with the Burial Amendment Act 1880.
2.
Any person who shall destroy or injure any building, wall, fence pathway or
roadway belonging to the Burial Ground or controlled by the Council or destroy or
injure any tree or plant therein or who shall daub or disfigure any wall or put any bill
thereon, or destroy, injure or deface any memorial, or do any damage, play at any
game or sport, or discharge firearms (save at a military funeral) in the Burial Ground,
or wilfully and unlawfully disturb any person attending a funeral, or commit any
nuisance within the ground, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding
Level 2 of the United Kingdom Standard Scale, under the power of the Local
Government Act 1972 section 237, as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1991
section 17(1) (currently £500.00).
3.
The Burial Ground is open to the public under certain regulations from dawn
until sunset daily. Children under 10 years of age will not be admitted except under
the care of a responsible person. Visitors are expected to keep on the gravel walks
and to refrain from touching the shrubs or flowers and to behave in a respectful
manner at all times. No smoking is allowed in the grounds.
4.
It is requested that complaints of inappropriate behaviour by the employees of
the Council be made to the Clerk.
5.
No person shall be allowed to distribute tracts, business cards, or other
advertisements, or to solicit orders within the Burial Ground and no memorial shall be
admitted into the Burial Ground that has in addition to the inscription, more than the
name of the person or persons supplying the same and no person shall attempt to
obtain from any employee either directly or indirectly, information as to grave
owners, nor take measurements of, or photograph, or copy any memorial, or
photograph any grave, or flowers, unless the written permission of the owner thereof
be first delivered to the Clerk.
6.
No turf must be removed in or from the Burial Ground.
7.
No dogs to be admitted to the Burial Ground (except guide dogs), unless on a
lead. All canine faeces must be removed from the Burial Ground.
Interments
8.
Notice in all cases is to be given to the Parish Clerk at least two working days
prior to an interment.
9.
Notices of interment must be given on the prescribed form provided by the
Council. In all cases (except Parish Funerals) the fees and charges due to the
Authority must be paid to the Clerk at the Parish Office, on notice being given of an
interment and before the notice is accepted.
10.
The hours appointed for interments shall be 10.00am until 4.00pm daily,
Sundays and Bank Holidays excepted.
11.
No unwalled grave shall be reopened within 14 years after the burial of a
person above 12 years of age, or within 8 years after the burial of a child under 12
years of age, unless to bury another member of the same family in which case, a layer
of earth not less than one foot thick shall be left undisturbed above the previous
buried coffin, but if on reopening any grave the soil be found to be offensive, such
soil shall not be disturbed and in no case shall human remains be removed from the
grave.
12.
No coffin shall be buried in any unwalled grave within 3 feet (0.9m) of the
ordinary level of the ground.
13.
No body of a stillborn child will be received unless in a coffin of wood, with
the name of the child or that of its parents indelibly affixed.
14.
When a burial takes place in a new grave, the position of that grave will
normally be next to the previous new grave. The Council reserves the right to place a
grave in another position should there be more than one interment about the same
time.
Reservations
15.
Grave spaces may be reserved by the next of kin or person responsible for the
burial at the time of arranging the interment and request the Board to reserve the
adjacent space on payment of the appropriate fee.
16.
No grave in which the exclusive right of burial has been purchased shall be
reopened without the production of the grant or deed, belonging to such grave, or if
such grant or deed cannot be produced by reason of its being lost or mislaid of a
statutory declaration or other evidence of such loss satisfactory to the Council.
17.
Any such person who purchases a grave space or spaces whilst residing in the
Parish and subsequently leaves shall pay such fee and charges for an interment as if
such person were still an inhabitant.
Memorials
18.
The maximum area for a memorial is 2 feet 6 inches wide by 1 foot 6 inches
deep by 3 feet 6 inches high. A further flat memorial stone, positioned immediately
in front and measuring 2 feet wide by 1 foot deep, is allowed at the discretion of the
Council.
19.
Permitted kerbstones must not be higher than 6 inches nor exceed 6 feet 6
inches in length and must be a maximum of 3 feet wide.
20.
Twenty-one days before the erection of a memorial, a description of the same,
with the proposed inscription, shall be deposited with the Clerk for the approval of the
Council.
21.
No mason will be permitted to commence any work on the Burial Ground
without an order from the Clerk.
22.
The Council shall decide as to the fitness of any proposed inscription, in the
event of a dispute respecting an inscription on the consecrated portion of the ground,
the matter shall be referred to the Bishop, whose decision will be final. See (15 and
16 Vict., c.85, sec. 38).
23.
All brick, stone or other work, in or about graves shall be furnished and
erected with the approval of the Council, at the cost of the owner/applicant.
24.
All persons erecting memorials on the grave spaces in the Burial Ground shall
at their own costs and charges keep the same in a neat and properly maintained
condition. In default of their so doing, after twelve months' notice in writing to the
owner, or persons claiming on his behalf, by the Clerk, signed by three members of
the Council, the same shall become the property of the Council, who notwithstanding
any purchase of exclusive right may remove or repair the same as they think fit.
25.
Persons putting up memorials of any kind shall inscribe the number of the
grave space as appropriate.
26.
The Council will not be held responsible for any damage to containers on the
grave space. Every memorial, of whatever description, will be admitted into the
Burial Ground or permitted to be erected only on the condition that such memorial be
erected and remain at the owner's sole risk, and that the Council shall not be held
responsible for any damage or breakage which may occur to the same.
27.
The Council has the right to remove from any grave any items that may
interfere with the grounds maintenance of that area after serving notice to the
registered grave owner. Any items seen to be causing an immediate hazard or danger
will be removed immediately without notice.
28.
The Council reserves the right to temporarily remove any part of a memorial
when considered necessary.
29.
All memorials will be inspected on a regular basis by the Council to check
their stability, the Council will make every attempt to contact the memorial owner
beforehand if the memorial gives cause for concern. Where a memorial is found to be
potentially dangerous for any reason, the Council has the right to make it safe
immediately before contacting the owner in accordance with the Local Authorities
Cemeteries’ Order 1977, Article 3.
30.
In cases where any question or controversy arises from the foregoing clauses,
or anything omitted there from, the decision of the Council shall be final and binding.
Sue Hobbs
Parish Clerk
Council Meeting
29 March 2010