Amongst the many duties that a town surveyor has to perform is sometimes included that of laying out land for a large burial ground or cemetery, and its management after construction. Power is given to all local authorities to become burial authorities by the Public Health Interments Act 1879, and so strongly is the need felt for what is called extramural interment, that the Local Government Board may compel a local authority to provide and maintain cemeteries. Power is also given for the compulsory purchase of land for this purpose (see sections 175, 176, of the Public Health Act 1875), and the cemetery may be placed either within or without the district over which the local authority exercise their jurisdiction, and many other privileges are granted in order to encourage the acquisition of land so far removed from habitations as to make the burial ground as sanitary as the practice of burying human bodies can be made.

Land once consecrated or used for burial cannot afterwards be sold or used for secular purposes, except of course by an Act of Parliament; “footpaths may, however, be provided in a consecrated but disused burial ground, and the ground may be planted, so as in effect, though not nominally, to make it a public garden.”[230]

A cemetery must not be constructed within 200 yards of any dwelling house, without the consent in writing of the owner, lessee, and occupier of such house; but there is no prohibition upon anyone to prevent their building a house close to a cemetery after it has been established.[231]

Chapels may be built in cemeteries for the performance of the burial services, and the grounds may be laid out and embellished as the local authority may deem fit. The cemetery must be enclosed by walls or other sufficient fences or iron railings 8 feet in height; it must be properly sewered and drained, but such drainage must not flow into any “stream, canal, reservoir, aqueduct, pond or watering place.”[232]

Cemeteries are divided into consecrated and unconsecrated portions by bond stones or other suitable marks; a chapel must be built upon the consecrated portion, although it does not seem to be compulsory to do so upon the unconsecrated portion.

The selection of a proper site on sanitary and other grounds for a cemetery is one of the greatest importance, and a town surveyor, or anyone who has this duty to perform, cannot do better than keep the following words of the well-known sanitary engineer Mr. Eassie before him:[233]

“A well-chosen cemetery is one whose soil is dry, close, and yet porous, permitting the rain and its accompanying air to reach a reasonable depth, and so expedite decay. The formation is also well covered with vegetable mould, which assists in neutralising any hurtful emanations, and encourages the growth of shrubs. The subsoil is also of such a kind as to need no under draining, and such as will prevent the water lodging in any grave or vault. It will also stand exposed to the north or north east winds which are dry, and which do not hold the putrefactive gases in solution, like the moist south or south westerly winds.”

“An improperly chosen graveyard may be said to be one where the soil is dense and clayey, and impervious to moisture. It will be insufficiently drained, necessitating the use of planks to walk upon in wet weather. It will be too close to the abodes of the living, too small to permit proper planting, the graves covered, it may be with flat stones which prevent the passage downwards of the air and rain, and surrounded moreover by high walls which exclude the fresh air. The ground will be stony and insufficiently covered with vegetable soil. No natural outfall will exist, and the drainage water must be pumped up, the bare idea of which is horrible. It will be near also to water-bearing strata, or to a reservoir. Long before decomposition has taken place owing to the smallness of the site, and the impossibility of obtaining any more land except at high building prices, the organic matter hidden out of sight will be far too large in proportion to the area.”

Dr. Parsons, in a memorandum prepared by him on the “Sanitary Requirements of Cemeteries” and published by the Local Government Board in their eleventh annual report, says:

“The soil of a cemetery should be of an open, porous nature, with numerous close interstices, through which air and moisture may pass in a finely divided state freely in every direction. In such a soil decay proceeds rapidly, and the products of decomposition are absorbed or oxidised. The soil should be easily worked, yet not so loose as to render the work of excavation dangerous through the liability to falls of earth. It should be free from water or hard rock to a depth of at least 8 feet. If not naturally free from water, it should be drained if practicable to that depth: to this end it is necessary that the site should be sufficiently elevated above the drainage level of the locality, either naturally, or, where necessary, by filling it up to the required level with suitable earth.”

“Loam, and sand with a sufficient quantity of vegetable mould, are the best soils; clay and loose stones the worst. A dense clay is laborious to work and difficult to drain; by excluding moisture and air it retards decay, and it retains, in a concentrated state, the products of decomposition, sometimes to be discharged into graves opened in the vicinity, or sometimes to escape through cracks in the ground to the surface. A loose, stony soil, on the other hand, allows the passage of effluvia.”

And with reference to the site to be chosen for a cemetery he further states:

“Nevertheless, in view of the evils which in former times have undoubtedly arisen from the practice of intramural sepulture, and also because the erection of houses near a cemetery interferes with the free play of air around and over it, it is desirable that the site of the cemetery should be in a neighbourhood in which building is not likely to take place, and also that so far as practicable a belt of ground should be reserved between the graves and the nearest land on which a house may be built, in order to obviate to some extent the risk of contamination of ground-air and subsoil water with decomposing matters. This is especially necessary where houses are constructed with cellars. It is, therefore, highly desirable that interments should not be made up to the extreme edge of the cemetery, and it would be possible without great waste of space to reserve in all cases a strip of ground free from interments, 15 to 30 feet in width, around the whole cemetery on the interior of the boundary fence. This strip would afford room, on the inside for a gravel or asphalte walk to give access to all parts of the cemetery, and on the outside next the fence to a belt of shrubs or trees, the rootlets of which, penetrating the soil, would arrest and assimilate any decomposing matters percolating to the exterior of the cemetery. Obviously a cemetery should not be placed on elevated ground above houses, where the soakings from it may percolate to the sites and foundations of the dwellings below. ...”

“Sites are of course unsuitable which are liable to be flooded or to landslips, or which are in danger of being washed away, or encroached upon by streams or the sea. Very steep sites are not desirable. The cemetery should be accessible by good roads from all parts of the district.”

As to the unsuitability of clay as a soil for cemeteries, Louis CrÉteur in “Hygiene in the Battle Field” says, that the bodies of soldiers slain during the Battle of Sedan were buried in chalk, quarry rubble, sand, argillite, slate, marl, or clay soils, and the work of disinfection lasted from the beginning of March till the end of June. In rubble the decay had fully taken place, but in the clay the bodies kept well, and even after a very long time the features could be identified.

With regard to the amount of land necessary for a cemetery, Dr. Parsons calculates that about a quarter of an acre of land for every thousand of the population of the community to whom the cemetery belongs, is the “usually estimated minimum,” but this is far too small a proportion even for a cemetery possessing every advantage, and he further states, “The desirability of providing more than this bare minimum of space is obvious, and is generally recognized.” It must be remembered that as a rule, quite one-sixth of the total area of a cemetery is taken up by the roads, paths, ornamental grass or beds of flowers and shrubs, the chapels, mortuaries, lodges, &c., and sufficient width should be allowed between each grave space to permit every grave being reached without trampling on others: a standard of 110 burials per acre has sometimes been taken, but this appears to me to be rather a small one.

In laying out ground for a cemetery, the following are some points that require careful attention:

(1.) The position of the entrance or entrances; there should if possible be only one, as a lodge is necessary at each, which entails expense.

(2.) The best position for the lodge or lodges, the chapels and mortuary.

(3.) The direction of the roads in the cemetery: these must be wide enough for the hearses and mourning coaches, and there must be convenient places provided for turning round.

(4.) The direction of the paths:[234] these and the roads should be as straight as possible, so as to economise available burial ground, paths should be sufficiently wide to allow an entrance to be made in them to the adjoining vaults or walled graves, these being frequently covered with a massive tomb or ledger very difficult to remove. The vaults and walled graves, being of a better class, are generally put in the borders of the burial ground, close to the paths.

(5.) In some soils deep and careful drainage is necessary. This should be carried out with ordinary drain pipes laid at a depth of at least 10 feet, and so communicating with each other and the grave spaces, that even in a clay soil each grave as it is sunk should be found free from water.

(6.) Surface drainage, especially of the roads and paths, is also necessary.

(7.) Provision must be made for the disposal of the soil excavated from the graves, as very little punning or ramming of the soil thrown in after a burial should be permitted, and thus there is always a large quantity of material to be otherwise disposed of.

The cemetery must be divided into Church or consecrated ground, Dissenters’ ground, and Roman Catholic ground, in such proportions as may be found to suit the particular requirements of the locality in which the cemetery is placed.

These divisions must again be subdivided into sections according to the class and description of the proposed grave, and each of these subdivisions and grave-spaces must be accurately marked with a distinguishing letter and number, so that on reference to a plan and a register book, any person’s grave may be easily found, however long a time may have elapsed since the interment took place, and although no headstone or mark over the grave is there. It is needless to say, that the plan of the cemetery has to be most carefully prepared, and the ground equally carefully set out, to prevent any chance of error occurring, or serious consequences might result. It may be well to remark that no body can be removed after burial without an order from one of Her Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, or by faculty from the Bishop in consecrated ground.[235]

The following description of the different sections necessary in a large cemetery may here be of use, the fees chargeable for the privilege of burying in each section advancing with the letters appropriated to the sections.

Section A. This is appropriated to workhouse paupers or very poor persons only,[236] the depth[237] of the grave may be limited to 6 feet, and the size should be 9 feet by 4 feet; only coffins made of wood should be allowed in this section.[238]

Section B. This is of a slightly superior class to the last, the depth and size may however be the same, but a larger fee can be charged, and the position of the section with reference to the paths should be better and more convenient.

Section C. This is again superior to either of the former sections. Extra depth and size may be allowed, and the position should also be better.

Section D. In the previous sections only “common” graves as they are called should be allowed. In this section either walled graves, vaults, tombs or common graves may be placed, the common graves may be of extra depth and size, the space for a vault may be 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet.[239]

This section should be exclusively the borders of the paths and other spots easily accessible and prominent to view.

Section E. This is the best section. No common graves should be allowed in it, and the spaces allotted for burial may be isolated and of various sizes according to agreement and payment. Here costly tombs and monuments are erected, the position of the section being generally near the chapels.[240]

In all the above sections it is necessary to provide for the burial of children: these require smaller space and in some instances they can be buried with their mother, but in separate coffins. Unfortunately it is necessary to allow rather a large percentage of available space for the interment of children, as the infant mortality in this country is so excessive.

In connection with the question of the plan and the sections for burial, it may be well to give the following rules and regulations for the management of a cemetery:

Cemetery Rules and Regulations.

(1.) All charges for interment, monuments, and gravestones must be paid at the time the order is granted; no kind of work allowed to be done, or any corpse brought on the ground without the production of an order.

(2.) Certificates of death to be produced (showing the name of the parish, &c., and all other requisite information) on paying the fees.

(3.) Two days’ notice to be given for interment in graves, (exclusive of Sunday,) and three days if a vault or brick grave be required. In default, an extra charge will be made for working by night.

(4.) The time when the funeral procession will be on the ground to be named in the notice. An extra fee of will be charged when the funeral procession is minutes later than the time appointed, and for every minutes afterwards.

(5.) The hours of interment are from A.M. to P.M. from Michaelmas to Lady-day, and from A.M. to P.M. from Lady-day to Michaelmas.

(6.) All brick or stone work in the graves, and all foundations and fixing of memorials, or planting, shall be under the supervision and control of the local authority or their appointed agent.

(7.) No grave or vault shall be re-opened by other persons than members of that family without the written consent of the parties interested and of the local authority. An extra fee for the interment of strangers will be charged at the discretion of the local authority.

(8.) In all unbricked graves, coffins of wood only shall be used. No interment will be allowed nearer the surface than four feet for an adult, or three feet for a child under 12 years. Every coffin in a bricked grave or vault to be separately entombed in an air-tight manner.

(9.) No palisades or iron railings to exceed feet in height, except with the special consent of the local authority; and no palisades, or enclosure of any description will be permitted to a grave until a headstone or tomb has been erected.

(10.) A drawing of every monument or gravestone to be submitted for approval, and a copy of the intended inscription, if it contains more than name, age, and date. Inscriptions to be arranged so as to face the paths as far as practicable. Any question which shall arise touching the fitness of any monumental inscription, placed in any part of the consecrated portion of the ground, shall be determined on appeal by the Bishop of the Diocese.

(11.) All graves and vaults, monuments, gravestones, fencing or other enclosures, to be kept in repair by the persons interested in their preservation. If suffered to go out of repair and become unsightly, the local authority will remove them altogether, and they will not be allowed to be replaced without the consent of the local authority. Graves will be kept in order by the local authority for a fee of per annum.

A plan of the ground, showing each grave space, is kept at the office of the surveyor to the local authority and may be seen without charge.

The public are admitted to the cemetery, on weekdays, from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M. from Lady-day to Michaelmas, and from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. from Michaelmas to Lady-day. On Sundays, from 2 to 8 P.M. in summer and 2 to 5 P.M. in winter.

All further information may be obtained at the office.

The local authority forbid any gratuity being received by their servants.

The local authority reserves a right, from time to time, to make any alteration in the foregoing charges and regulations.

In connection with the above rules, a scale of fees of the charges for interments must be prepared as well as for headstones, foot-stones, ledgers, and tombs, or for enclosing any grave with kerbing, iron-railings, posts and chains, &c.

The practice of allowing persons to plant small shrubs and trees upon the graves of their friends, should be deprecated, as not only do they tend eventually to make a cemetery look untidy but they are placed so close to the graves that when they grow up their roots often split open a vault or walled grave, and even damage valuable tombstones.

Trees which are suitable for cemeteries, and which would thrive even in a town atmosphere, are the weeping willow, cypress, yew, cedar, juniper, birch, ash, weeping elm, and a considerable number and variety of drooping and other deciduous trees. These should, however, be planted under the control of the local authority, as otherwise a cemetery would soon be overrun by them.

The regulations issued by the Secretary of State for the Home Department in January 1863, for burial grounds provided under the Burial Acts, may be of use for reference, and are given in extenso:

(1.) The burial ground shall be effectually fenced, and, if necessary, under-drained to such a depth as will prevent water remaining in any grave or vault.

(2.) The area to be used for graves shall be divided into grave spaces, to be designated by convenient marks, so that the position of each may be readily determined, and a corresponding plan kept on which each grave space shall be shown.

(3.) The grave spaces for the burial of persons above 12 years of age shall be at least 9 feet by 4 feet, and those for the burial of children under 12 years of age, 6 feet by 3 feet, or if preferred, half the measurement of the adult grave space, namely, 4¹/2 feet by 4 feet.

(4.) A register of graves shall be kept in which the name, age, and date of burial in each shall be duly registered.

(5.) No body shall be buried in any vault or walled grave unless the coffin be separately entombed in an air-tight manner; that is, by properly cemented stone or brickwork, which shall never be disturbed.

(6.) One body only shall be buried in a grave at one time, unless the bodies be those of members of the same family.

(7.) No unwalled grave shall be re-opened within 14 years after the burial of a person above 12 years of age, or within eight 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 1 foot thick shall be left undisturbed above the previously 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.

(8.) No coffin shall be buried in any unwalled grave within 4 feet of the ordinary level of the ground, unless it contains the body of a child under 12 years of age, when it shall not be less than 3 feet below that level.

For further information upon the subject of the Interments Act 1879 and much useful information in connection with cemeteries, I refer my readers to ‘Notes and Practical Suggestions upon the Interment Act 1875,’ by T. Baker, Esq.

I cannot close this chapter upon cemeteries without a few words upon a subject which is analogous, cremation; and although I am aware that this is a debateable question, still it is impossible for me to be silent, as from my official experience on the practice of burial, I am so deeply convinced that cremation should be substituted for it for very many weighty reasons, that I feel it is necessary for me to give them.

They are as follows:

(1.) Nothing can be more unsanitary or dangerous to the living than the burial of the dead. This has been enlarged upon over and over again by men who have well studied the subject and are competent to give an opinion and to that opinion I add my testimony.

(2.) Nothing can be more loathsome and degrading to the dead bodies of our friends or more revolting to our feelings, than the horrible practice of placing the remains of those we love in the soil of a common churchyard or cemetery, to be devoured with other bodies by worms.

(3.) In placing a dead body under ground we can never be sure how long the remains will be left undisturbed, a new street or railway will soon destroy all traces of its resting place,[241] and even the law only allows a grave to remain undisturbed for a short 14 years.

(4.) In the event of friends or relations dying abroad their remains cannot be sent home for burial except at great expense, cremation would reduce the body to a few beautiful silvery ashes which could easily be brought home and secured on arrival in a suitable and safe position.[242]

(5.) Cremation is the most respectful and beautiful manner for the disposal of dead bodies, and need not alarm (on religious grounds[243]) any more than the practice at sea of lowering the dead bodies overboard to be eventually eaten and digested by marine animals.

(7.) Cremation would settle at once and for ever the vexed question of burial in consecrated or unconsecrated ground, and all the unseemly quarrels which have taken place in connection with it from time to time.

(8.) The great extent of land that is now wasted in public burial grounds and cemeteries.[244]

There is no reason, even if cremation should take the place of burial, why the fees for clergymen and others should not remain as at present, and the unpleasant assistance of the British-ghoul, the undertaker, with his long face at the ceremony and still longer bill afterwards, could easily be dispensed with.

The opponents of cremation urge that it would be more expensive than burial, and consequently out of the reach of the poorer classes, and also that it would cause so much difficulty in detecting cases of poisoning, that it would tend to encourage persons to poison others who happened to be in their way, or objectionable to them, and thus crime would go unchecked.

If these are the only objections they are easily to be overcome.

First, by constructing public crematories, where for a few shillings a day sufficient heat could be maintained to consume almost any number of bodies, whilst the present great expense of maintaining large cemeteries with their attendant guardians and other costs would be dispensed with; and

Secondly, by instituting a scientific and independent enquiry as to the cause of every death which occurs. This is so much required at the present day for the sake of the public health, that even if cremation is never introduced it should be at once enforced, so that those who have charge of the public health could have exact and reliable knowledge of the causes of all the deaths throughout the United Kingdom, and thus obtain such valuable information as would greatly assist in the daily fight to subdue and overcome deaths from preventable causes.

[230] Vide ‘Fitzgerald’s Public Health Act,’ p. 130, 3rd edition.[231] Vide ‘Fitzgerald’s Public Health Act,’ p. 131, 3rd edition. Foot note to clause x. Cemetery Clauses Act 1847.[232] Cemetery Clauses Act 1847, s. 20.[233] Vide ‘Cremation of the Dead,’ by William Eassie, C.E. &c. &c., p. 50.[234] The roads and paths in a cemetery require to be carefully made, in order that they may be available during any weather.[235] 20 & 21 Vic. c. 81, s. 25.[236] The following is a description of the manner of burying the poorer people in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, near Paris. (Vide ‘The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris,’ by W. Robinson, F.L.S., &c., p. 109.) “A very wide trench or fosse is cut wide enough to hold two rows of coffins placed across it, and 100 yards long or so. Here they are rapidly stowed in one after another, just as nursery labourers lay in stock ‘by the heels,’ only much closer, because there is no earth between the coffins, and wherever the coffins, which are very like egg-boxes, only somewhat less substantial, happen to be short so that a little space is left between the two rows, those of children are placed in lengthwise between them to economise space; the whole being done exactly as a natty man would pack together turves or mushroom spawn bricks.”... Let us hope that whatever else may be “taken from the French,” we may never imitate them in their cemetery management.[237] Depth of burial varies from 6 to 10 feet, but there must be 4 feet of earth upon the top of the last coffin if an adult, 3 feet if a child.[238] A proper grave should be dry when opened, and have a sufficiency of soil over the coffin to absorb any gases of decomposition; it should allow an adjoining grave to be opened without collapsing, and should if possible dispense with the necessity of shoring or close timbering the sides, and should allow sufficient space for a headstone to be placed over it.[239] In a tomb or walled grave, the coffin should be enclosed in an air-tight case, by means of a stone cemented down which must never again be moved; or concrete may be used. It is a good plan to put some charcoal with the coffin to absorb any gases of decomposition in case of the vault opening accidentally at any future time, and in order to guard against such an occurrence it is better to leave at least 2 feet of earth on the top of the grave below the surface of the ground in walled graves.[240] “No body shall be buried in any vault under any chapel of the cemetery or within 15 feet of the outer wall of any such chapel.” (Vide s. 39, Cemetery Clauses Act 1847.)[241] In a beautiful out-of-the-way valley in Wales, there is a pretty village with a quiet churchyard far from the “busy haunts of man,” yet here it is found necessary to disinter all the bodies, as this churchyard will soon be 30 feet under the surface of the water of an immense reservoir now being constructed to supply the living with drinking water, and it would not be right to leave the bodies there.[242] The body of Lord Balcarres was (as is now history) removed from the mausoleum in his own grounds, and only recovered after a most painful interval; this desecration could not have happened had his body been cremated and the ashes suitably secured.[243] I believe it was Lord Shaftesbury whose remark on this point was, “What would have become of the blessed martyrs, if destruction by fire was to annul their chances of resurrection?”[244] The metropolis alone has in addition to the numerous burying grounds near its parish churches, &c. (many of which have been, however, dug up and destroyed), the average of which it would be difficult to determine, the following cemeteries, which may be called extra mural: