The Garden of Remembrance

The Garden of Remembrance

The churchyard around All Saints has been closed for burials by Order in Council since 1854.

The PCC sought permission under Faculty to apportion an area of the churchyard for use as a Garden of Remembrance for the interment of cremated remains. This area is on the ecclesiastical south side of the church building, abutting the perimeter fence with the portion of the churchyard used, under lease, by our school as a playground when the school is in session.

A number of spaces was reserved, and the plans for this purpose are kept in the church safe.

Despite the busyness of the general area, it can still be a quiet, shady, peaceful spot.

Notes

· Unlike an open churchyard with the commensurate rights for any parishioner to be buried there or have their ashes interred, there is no right ecclesiastical or civil for the burial of cremated remains in a Garden of Remembrance in a closed churchyard such as ours, unless permission has been granted by the Incumbent, ideally in consultation with the Church Wardens and the Parochial Church Council, to establish a “qualifying connection’.

· The fee payable to the Parochial Church Council for the interment of cremated remains is essentially a fee for permission and to defray any associated costs. The site of the interment of cremated remains is not a grave* and this leads to some confusion. The site is not property alienated from the ownership of the ecclesiastical authorities, unlike a grave.

· The Chancellor’s Regulations for Churchyards make no provision for the marking of the site with the name of those whose remains are interred or any other inscription. Permissions which may have been granted or understood as having been by previous Incumbents or priests in charge or by sequestrators, have been honoured in the present Incumbency, which explains why there are ‘memorial plaques’ in the ground, some more discreet than others and now grassed over. These have been honoured for pastoral reasons and the ‘maintenance’ and appearance of these is as if they were graves – which they are not - for which see the PCC’s regulations, modelled after those of the Diocesan Chancellor..

· No permissions for memorial plaques can be granted. Permissions allegedly granted in the past will need to be proved, especially this far in to the present Incumbency (since January 6th 2011).

* A grave is where the body of the deceased has been disposed. A grave is also property, the ownership of a portion of the churchyard. Provisions for the maintenance of any monument placed upon it (permission having been granted by the Incumbent) is the responsibility of the deceased in his or her lifetime. Commonly, this is expressed in the family of the deceased making sure the grave and monument are maintained in a way which is compliant with the Chancellor’s Regulations, over and above the general maintenance of the churchyard, which is the responsibility of the Incumbent/priest in charge, Church Wardens and Parochial Church Council, such as mowing the grass.