Would you bury a family member in the garden?

#1 · 14-12-2013 02:14PM #1

Don't worry, haven't done a Bryan Murray. Just read the following:

Would you bury your loved one in your garden?

Two grieving spouses who wished to keep their loved ones close, have buried their late partners in their own gardens.

Patricia Waters, 81, wanted to provide her husband with a truly personal send-off and has had him buried in the back garden of their home - and even conducted the funeral service herself.

Phillip Topham, 56, buried his wife the front garden of their home in Colwick, Nottingham, when she died from oesophageal cancer after 18 years by his side.

Patricia Waters decided that she did not want her husband Eddie laid to rest in an 'impersonal' cemetery, so she commissioned an undertaker to dig a plot round the back of their house in Kidderminster, Worcestershire.

Mrs Waters, a devout Catholic arranged for a priest to lead the ceremony - but when he was unble to attend, she carried out the service herself.

'I first saw something about home burials in a newspaper more than 20 years ago,' the 81-year-old said.

'Graveyards are so regimented and impersonal - so I thought wouldn't it be nice to be buried at home.

'Eddie and I were both interested in the idea. I'm just so glad we were able to do it. It is a great comfort for me knowing he is buried in the garden.'

Mrs Waters, a former teacher, asked undertakers Edwin Harris and Sons to arrange the burial.

Chief executive Mark Bullivant said: 'The home burial for Mr Waters was very unusual because it is at the back of a resident house in the middle of Kidderminster.

Not a chance would I. Is it even legal in this country?

Love this part of the article:

Estate agents claim that having a body buried on your property can reduce the value of the home by up to £50,000.

Yeah, I bet it bloody does.

wretcheddomain · 14-12-2013 02:22PM

I think we should place coffins vertically as it saves much more space (even in the garden).

/thread

KwackerJack · 14-12-2013 02:24PM

I will if she keeps annoying me!!

seamus · 14-12-2013 02:24PM

If you had a large garden and it was very much a family home (i.e. one that you don't plan on selling at all) I can see the appeal alright. Most people opt for burying the ashes though.

Legality, I don't know. I know there are rules around burying livestock so that potential toxins or viruses can't get into the local water, so I imagine the same rules must apply for people. I also know that you only "own" the ground in your land down to a certain depth (2m?), so you wouldn't be allowed bury them below that depth.

There's information here:
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/after_a_death/burials.html
But it doesn't actually state what you can't do, just what you need to do. I suspect if you wanted to bury someone in the back garden you'd need to apply for planning/zoning permission to have a burial plot in that space and conform to all the rules of same.

14-12-2013 02:29PM

Under the patio, maybe.

14-12-2013 02:34PM

No, because if my circumstances changed and I had to sell the property I'd be destroyed with guilt at leaving.

Cremation ftw.

norrie rugger · 14-12-2013 02:38PM

I have a few relatives so full of sh*t that the garden would never need fertilisation again

Pj! · 14-12-2013 02:46PM

Not sure if the landlord would be too pleased to be honest.

Icepick · 14-12-2013 02:47PM

incinerate

2 stroke · 14-12-2013 03:13PM

Well, maybe not a loved one but I can think of a few people.

2 stroke · 14-12-2013 03:15PM

Pj! wrote: »

Not sure if the landlord would be too pleased to be honest.

Landlord first.

Mint Aero · 14-12-2013 03:20PM

wretcheddomain wrote: »

I think we should place coffins vertically as it saves much more space (even in the garden).

/thread

Well if you can't lie down when you're dead then what's the point in living?

tipptom · 14-12-2013 03:35PM

[

QUOTE=Daqster;87997837]Don't worry, haven't done a Bryan Murray. Just read
the following:

Not a chance would I. Is it even legal in this country?

Love this part of the article:

Yeah, I bet it bloody does.[/QUOTE]
Would be afraid that nosy Sinbad would be around again.

Hobbes · 14-12-2013 03:36PM

Daqster wrote: »

Yeah, I bet it bloody does.

Even more if you buried an indian.

IvySlayer · 14-12-2013 03:39PM

I'd be afraid the dog would go digging again

Duckworth_Luas · 14-12-2013 04:10PM

The dying wish of a man where I grew up was to be buried under a tree in his own garden. His family were going to go ahead with his wishes but were dissuaded by the County Council who insisted he be buried in a designated cemetery.

unfortunately · 14-12-2013 04:17PM

wretcheddomain wrote: »

I think we should place coffins vertically as it saves much more space (even in the garden).

/thread

It would be impractical, what happens if you are burying a 6ft man? You would have to dig very narrow deep holes. And anyway, you can bury more than one person horizontally in a grave at various depths.

citizensinformation wrote:

At the time of the first interment or burial at a grave space, it should be sunk to a depth of at least eight feet or to a lesser depth as decided by the County Medical Officer if the sub-soil does not allow for a depth of eight feet.

It is permissible to reopen a grave in order to bury a member of the same family, but a space of at least one foot above the previous burial must be left. Generally, it is possible to bury three to four persons in each grave space.

MonstaMash · 14-12-2013 04:19PM

Depends how badly they pissed me off

MadsL · 14-12-2013 04:22PM

As far as I am aware it is legal, but details of the burial must be recorded on the deeds so could affect the house sale.

As far as cremation is concerned it was considered most heathen in the UK of the 1880s and one of the first to practice it on his own land after his infant son of 5 months died, was arrested. He won his right to cremate and so the modern practice of cremation began.

Fascinating story here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/posts/dr_william_price_and_the_beginnings_of_cremation

MonstaMash · 14-12-2013 04:30PM

MadsL wrote: »

Fascinating story here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/posts/dr_william_price_and_the_beginnings_of_cremation

I enjoyed that, a complete eccentric by all accounts

Spring Onion · 14-12-2013 04:34PM

We did bury our family dog in the back garden.

bigron2109 · 14-12-2013 04:37PM

No way. Imagine if you had to move. Or some animals came into your garden and dug them up.

TheMilkyPirate · 14-12-2013 04:38PM

If I had a nice house in the country with a good bit of land and a few nice mature oak trees that I knew I would never sell I'd much rather I be buried on my family land and I'd also do the same for my partner if she wanted.

But right now in my council house in the middle of a rough estate I can't see myself having a funeral out the back garden.

MonstaMash · 14-12-2013 04:45PM

bigron2109 wrote: »

No way. Imagine if you had to move. Or some animals came into your garden and dug them up.

Couple of commercially produced bottles of alkaline drain cleaners containing lye will sort that out in a jiffy due to its grease dissolving abilities.

Lye decomposes greases via alkaline ester hydrolysis, yielding water soluble, easily removed residual substances...rinse & go

Lapin · 14-12-2013 04:53PM

Pj! wrote: »

Not sure if the landlord would be too pleased to be honest.

Bury the landlord.

stoneill · 14-12-2013 04:54PM

I'd leave her arse poking out of the ground so I'd have some where to park me bike.

Daqster · 14-12-2013 05:02PM

stoneill wrote: »

I'd leave her arse poking out of the ground so I'd have some where to park me bike.

Billy?

MonstaMash · 14-12-2013 05:06PM

stoneill wrote: »

I'd leave her arse poking out of the ground so I'd have some where to park me bike.

Park your bike is it?

Hmmm

PanaDrama · 14-12-2013 05:08PM

Eeeeeuw, weird.

branie · 14-12-2013 11:20PM

Ever hear of John Christie of Rillington Place, London?

Teyla Emmagan · 14-12-2013 11:29PM

I get this. In our family home we have a load of pets down at the end of the garden, makes you think about them as you walk around looking at the changing of the seasons and all of that. It's comforting in a way to have them there. We are not big on visiting graves in our family (in fact, I don't really get the point of it). My Mam and Dad love their garden, I think it would be lovely to have them buried there, if the house remained in the family of course. I guess the point of public graveyards is that there's no chance the graves will ever be moved in the future, which also makes sense.

Would you bury a family member in the garden?

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