Burials And Cremations

What is the difference between cremation and burial?

A cremation is when the deceased person is reduced to ashes by the process of fire. A burial is when a deceased person is placed into the ground.

Is a cremation cheaper than a burial?

With burials and cremations, a cremation would normally be cheaper than a burial. However, if a family already owns a plot in a cemetery, and if they're in a local authority area where the charge for the opening of a grave is quite low, with these circumstances, the burial would be cheaper than the cremation. However, the national average would suggest that a cremation is the cheaper option than a burial.

Where can the deceased be buried?

Generally speaking the internment of persons will take place in a churchyard or a cemetary. Occasionally, a family, for example, who own a large estate may have a private vault in that estate or sometimes a church, a leading ecclesiastical figure may be buried inside the church, but generally speaking funerals and burials will take place in cemetaries and churchyards.

Am I able to purchase a graveyard plot?

In some larger metropolitan areas, where there is a distinct scarcity of ground, if someone wishes to have a burial, they can use the cheaper option of buying what is called a public grave. In other words, they will purchase their right of burial in a graveyard plot in a municipal cemetery. However, the family do not have exclusive use of that grave, and another person, completely and totally unrelated to the deceased, can possibly be buried in the same grave. If the family purchase a private graveyard plot, then what they buy is the exclusive right of burial in the grave. They do not purchase ownership of the grave; ownership of the graveyard plot remains with the cemetery authority or perhaps the church.

Can the deceased be buried in our local churchyard?

The Church of England have fairly stringent rules in relation to who can and who cannot be buried in the local churchyard. Generally speaking, the right of burial in the church cemetery is reserved for parishioners, or perhaps former parishioners who already have an existing grave in the churchyard.

What forms are required before a burial can take place?

With burials and cremations, it is necessary to have the Disposal certificate before a burial can take place. The Disposal certificate is issued by the registrar. If it's also agreed that it has been previously owned by the family, the production of the title deeds or the Right of Burial document for that grave needs to be furnished.

If the deceased has been buried, when can I erect the memorial or gravestone?

With burials and cremations, the time required to erect a memorial or gravestone will vary from cemetery to cemetery. Some modern cemeteries already have pre-laid foundations for gravestones, and really quite shortly after the internment has taken place, the gravestone can be erected. However, in other cemeteries when there is a requirement to place a foundation, it may be a couple of months before the memorial or gravestone is erected.

What is a 'lair'?

A lair is the Scottish name for a grave.

How does a burial differ in Scotland?

There really isn't much difference between a burial in Scotland from anywhere else in the United Kingdom, expect that in Scotland, it is the tradition that the handles of the coffin have cords and tassles attached to them. These come off at the cemetary and expand, and they are used as ropes by the next of kin to lower the coffin into the grave.

Why can't the deceased be cremated?

A deceased person,may leave specific instructions that they do not wish to be cremated. Or, perhaps the coroner or the procurator fiscal is carrying out an inquiry into the death and, for example, it was a violent death or a homicide. They may be unwilling to grant a certificate to allow a cremation to take place.

What forms are required before a cremation can take place?

Before a cremation can take place, it's imperative that the family or the person's arranging the funeral, perhaps the executor, signs an application form applying to the crematorium authority to allow the cremation to take place. This has to be counter-signed by someone who knows the applicant. Two different doctors, normally – the doctor who issues the death certificate and a second doctor who has been registered within the United Kingdom for more than five years and who is neither a relative nor partner of the doctor giving the first certificate. These two doctors have to give certificates and then the registrar issues a disposal certificate in England or a Form 14 in Scotland to allow the permission to go ahead.

Where can the ashes be scattered?

Generally speaking, the ashes of a deceased person will be scattered at the garden of remembrance at the crematorium or perhaps the family may remove them and scatter them either on an existing family grave or perhaps in an area or a place which has some emotional or sentimental value. There have been some difficulties in the past with families who would perhaps take the deceased person's ashes to a football ground in order to scatter them there, and this has been increasingly discouraged.

How does cremation differ in Scotland?

There is no difference in how cremation is carried out in Scotland from how a cremation is carried out in the rest of the United Kingdom.