Are you thinking of purchasing a family headstone?
Your headstone will be erected for many years on your family grave.
You need to be sure that you purchase the correct headstone and a professional registered Memorial Mason erects it.
Please take a few moments to read this, it is aimed to help you understand the headstone owner’s responsibilities regarding the erection of a new headstone and the professional aspects you should expect from the Monumental Mason you commission.
Briefly, the main regulations governing headstones are as follows:
The right to erect a memorial is issued by the Burial Authority, subject to the memorial being maintained by the owner and ensuring the memorial is secure at all times. The memorial must be able to withstand a 35 kg pressure test, which is recommended by professional bodies involved in cemeteries and memorials in the UK. The permission to erect and maintain a memorial will therefore be subject to the following conditions:
The right to erect and maintain a memorial will be issued by the Burial Authority, subject to the length of guarantee issued by the memorial mason chosen by the family. Memorial Masons Registered with Oldham Council have been asked to supply workmanship guarantees for up to 30 years, any guarantee given by a Memorial Mason does not affect your statutory rights, you will need to consider the length of the guarantee a mason is offering when you are deciding who to choose to erect your memorial. During the grant period you must keep the cemetery office informed of any change of address so that at the end of this period we can contact you. At the end of the grant period you will be asked to supply a new guarantee at the owner’s expense for the stability of the headstone and a new right to erect and maintain the headstone will be issued depending the period of guarantee. Should the person who is responsible for the grant, (this may have been inherited if the originally grantee is deceased) decide not to extend the guarantee/grant period the memorial will become unauthorised by the Burial Authority and may be removed from the grave. The burial authority will attempt to contact you prior to the end of the grant period and will affix notice to the headstone, but this is dependent on the family keeping the cemetery office informed of any changes in address or if the grantee has died and the grant needs to be re-registered or by the relatives visiting the grave. Providing safety inspections are carried out at the required time and any necessary maintenance undertaken by the owner/family the headstone may be erected on the grave for the period of the right to burial.
The memorial shall be inspected once every five years and any subsequent repairs carried out at the owner’s own expense, using a Memorial Mason who is registered with the Council. If repairs are not undertaken then the right to erect and maintain a memorial will be terminated and the memorial may be removed. During safety inspections, required by law, any cosmetic cement joints may break; this will not leave the headstone unsafe.
Headstone Safety Inspections will be carried out by the Council’s own staff or by outside contractors who can provide suitable qualifications for the inspections of memorials.
The fees payable for Rights to Erect a Headstone or safety testing of memorials will be that in force at the time on Oldham Council’s fees and charges.
Headstone owners must keep memorials in good, safe repair. If headstones are found to be in an unsafe condition during safety inspections, the memorial will be made safe by the Council, which may mean lowering the headstone flat, a notice will be attached to the headstone if this action is taken. The Council will endeavour to contact the owner at the last known address. It is the headstone owner’s responsibility to update the contact details. If you need to do this please phone the Cemetery Office on 0161 681 1312 or complete the Update Contact Details Form and return it to the address stated on the form. Grave and headstone ownership is inherited through a family and your dependants will be responsible for the condition of the headstone in future years. It is important that a family considers taking out insurance to protect the family in later years. If a headstone is found to be unsafe and laid down and no family claims the responsibility the Council may remove the headstone from the grave.
Oldham Council operate a Registered Memorial Mason scheme and only masons registered on the scheme will be permitted to work in Oldham’s Cemeteries. This allows the Council to govern the methods and workmanship that the masons follow.
All memorial mason work will be covered by a guarantee that will guarantee against faulty workmanship. The guarantee will vary depending on the mason commissioned but will be for a minimum period of 10 and a maximum period of 30 years, you will be issued with a copy of this from your mason. Advice will be provided and recommended by the Memorial Mason and available from the Cemeteries Department to grave/memorial owners on insurance against accidental damage or acts of theft or vandalism.
Oldham Council strongly recommends that headstones be insured against vandalism, storm damage and accident. Your headstone will be installed in an open public cemetery and will be subject to inclement weather, visitors to the cemetery, machinery used in the maintenance of cemeteries by both council staff and private companies and ground movement. Insurance packages will cover these possibilities.
Each mason must agree to work to the National Association of Memorial Masons current codes of working practise. These are available to view on the National Association of Memorial Masons website or can be obtained from:
The National Association of Memorial Masons
27a Albert Street,
Rugby,
Warwickshire CV21 2SG.
Tel: 01788 542264
A list of Registered Monumental Masons is available from:
Central Cemeteries Office.
Hollinwood Cemetery
Roman Road
Hollinwood
Oldham OL8 3LU
Tel: 0161 681 1312
Fax: 0161 683 5233
Email: env.cemeteries@oldham.gov.uk
As part of the Memorial Mason’s Registration scheme, masons have agreed to dismantle headstones, as requested by the Council, to demonstrate their compliance with the standards of fixing. Should this be requested to your family headstone the Council will endeavour to contact the family before hand.
Should a request be received to open your family grave, this will invalidate previous guarantees on the memorial erect. The family will need to commission a Registered Memorial Mason to ensure the memorial is stable and carry out any future inscriptions.