Churchyard Memorials

There are various and differing rules and regulations for church graveyards and cemeteries and these can change year-on-year.

In all instances your memorial will need to be permitted as will any additional inscription. Churches and cemetery authorities make a charge and a permit is issued which is handed to the mason who can then carry out the work.

This charge is not nationally set so it can range from £30 for an additional inscription to £100s for a large memorial.

Churches are strict – the following is typical and comes from a church in Surrey.

‘Inscriptions on memorials are our last opportunity to pay respect to the dead and the words should be chosen with care.

The Chancellor’s Directive asks that they should be “reverent” and may include quotations from literary sources. They must be incised or in relief and may be in black, gold or white. Plastic or other inlaid lettering is not permitted. All wording must have prior approval …Additions to an inscription may be made at a later date, but these must be separately approved and the lettering, layout and wording must be consistent with the original.”

There are height, width and thickness rules – some places outlaw kerbs and restrict the choice of colours of glass for the infill. As a general rule plastic flowers are frowned upon as are separate vases.

Cemeteries normally are a little more flexible but both church and cemetery will reserve the right to remove a memorial if, through neglect, it becomes a hazard. There is no right of precedence.

Often key to is making it relatively easy for the space to be maintained and the grass cut.