Burial Board to keep in order closed burial grounds, etc.

In every case in which any order in Council has been or shall hereafter be issued for the discontinuance of burials in any churchyard or burial ground, the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, as the case may be, shall maintain such churchyard or burial ground of any parish in decent order, and also do the necessary repair of the walls and other fences thereof, and the costs and expenses shall be repaid by the Overseers upon the certificate of the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, as the case may be, out of the rate made for the relief of the poor of the parish or place in which such churchyard or burial ground is situate, unless there shall be some other fund legally chargeable with such costs and expenses.

The words in italics have given rise to some dispute as to their interpretation. Some Burial Boards have claimed the right to maintain closed churchyards. The question was brought into the Court of Queen’s Bench in 1879, and it was decided that a Burial Board was required to maintain a closed cemetery, and that Churchwardens were the proper persons to maintain a closed churchyard. [79]