Cheshunt Cemetery
The Borough of Broxbourne provides a comprehensive cemetery
service that includes management of the cemeteries and chapels at
Cheshunt and Hoddesdon, liaison with funeral directors and
administration of deeds and records.
Staff are trained to be sensitive to the needs of the recently
bereaved and will conduct themselves in a caring and efficient
manner. Cemetery records are available for public inspection during
office hours.
The cemetery service provides:
- advice
- a choice of lawn, conventional or brick graves
- graves for cremated remains
- provision for child and foetal remains
- choice of consecrated or unconsecrated ground
- the option to pre-purchase plots
- the option to select specific plots
- an optional maintenance service for conventional graves
- a chapel at each cemetery, available without charge for
funerals
- Saturday funerals (upon request- supplementary payment)
- a water supply and watering cans for visitors to the
cemeteries
- public conveniences at each cemetery
- professional liaison with funeral directors and clergy
- administration of deeds and burials
Staff are available to meet customers at the cemeteries to
assist with plot selection and pre-purchase arrangements. Please
telephone the cemetery office on 01992 785507 or e-mail
leisure@broxbourne.gov.uk for an appointment. Alternatively, the
cemetery manager will be available at Hoddesdon cemetery on Tuesday
mornings from 9am until 10.30am.
Cheshunt Cemetery
Bury Green Road, Cheshunt
Opening hours: Every day of the year, 7.30am -
sunset or 8pm (whichever is sooner)
Disabled access: Both the cemetery and chapel
provide disabled access
National Cemetery Award
: Cheshunt Cemetery won first place in the 12
acres and above category in the national Cemetery of the Year
competition in 2005. The awards ceremony took place on 18
October 2005 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
The award was won for excellence and innovation in cemetery
management, design and customer service. The competition
judges were particularly impressed with the flower beds,
lavender beds and grass cutting. There are around 60 yew
trees around the chapel which are topiary pruned to a bottle shape,
giving a distinct character to the area. The cemetery
contains around 15,200 graves with 26,000
interments.
The cemetery is maintained by Broxbourne Services, the Council's
in-house contractor, which has maintained the cemetery for almost
20 years. It is a significant achievement to be so highly rated
against cemeteries across the country. Broxbourne residents have
come to expect a high quality service and environmental
surroundings and this award demonstrates those efforts.
Having a well-kept cemetery also helps in the fight against
vandalism.
Cheshunt Cemetery was a runner-up in the national Cemetery of
the Year awards in 2002. The competition has been running
since 1998 to encourage and reward high standards amongst Britain's
cemeteries.
Map of the cemetery - indicating approximate
plot locations
Pre-purchase of plots
All available plots may be pre-purchased for future
interment. You may wish to plan ahead for yourself or for
your family, ensure the availability of a specific plot, or reduce
the costs of a future purchase. The option to select a
specific plot is inclusive in the pre-purchase price.
Deeds granting you the exclusive right of burial are issued for 100
years and may be transferred to someone else at your written
request. However, additonal fees will be payable in the event
of transfer from a resident of the Borough to a non-resident,
except in the event of the death of the former.
Plot selection
Plots are normally allocated by the Council, but the option to
choose specific plots is offered as an additional service.
You may select a specific plot for both immediate and future
interments, subject to availability and your requirements. It
is advisable to meet with the cemetery manager at the cemetery to
view the available plots and choose which one you would
prefer.
The Chapel
The Chapel at Cheshunt Cemetery is available free of charge
for memorial services where the interment is taking place at the
cemetery. The chapel is tastefully decorated with ample
seating, trestles for the coffin and service books containing
hymns. A taped music facility is available.
Arrangements can also be made for your religious leader to meet
with the Cemetery Manager to plan the service.
Special arrangements
The chapel and the cemetery can usually accommodate special
requests. For example, funerals may be arranged for
Saturdays, special cultural or religious customs can be respected
and ecologically friendly funerals and interments can be
arranged. The cemetery staff should be contacted to discuss
your special requirements.
The cemetery staff will be pleased to help you with any further
queries and can be contacted on (01992) 785507. You may wish
to make an appointment to meet with the cemetery manager at the
cemetery.
For further information and enquiries, please telephone 01992
785507 or
e-mail: leisure@broxbourne.gov.uk
Interment options
The Borough of Broxbourne is committed to providing an
excellent cemetery service and is able to offer a wide range
of interment options at both Cheshunt and Hoddesdon
Cemeteries.
Lawn graves
Lawn graves are located together in each cemetery. These
graves consist of a grassy plot with a concrete foundation at one
end on which a memorial* can be erected. It should be noted
that all lawn grave memorials in the cemetery are placed back to
back to permit viewing. As coffins are interred facing east,
this could mean that the memorial is erected at the foot of the
grave rather than the head of the grave. Please note that
memorials should not exceed three feet in height.
The planting of flowers, shrubs or other vegetation is only
permitted within six inches of the concrete foundation landing
(spring bulbs may be planted under the grass - These will be
cut down four to six weeks after flowering
finishes).
Conventional graves
Conventional graves are located in the conventional grave section
of the cemetery. These traditional graves may have a
full kerbed memorial, a headstone with a garden or grass (if
grass, this will be cut by the cemetery staff), or simply a garden.
However the ground should be left to settle for about one year
following burial before any form of memorialisation takes
place.
Conventional grave memorials can be as large as six feet,
six inches long by two feet, six inches wide in Cheshunt Cemetery
or seven feet by three feet in Hoddesdon Cemetery. With
conventional graves there is no foundation supplied by the Borough
of Broxbourne and a monumental mason is required to supply and lay
your chosen memorial.
Brick graves
Brick graves are constructed to a maximum size of nine feet long
and four feet wide or multiples of four feet, with a standard sized
memorial at ground level. These graves will be located in a
conventional section section of the cemetery.
Extra fees are payable for the construction and the right to
construct brick graves. For more information please see the
"Cemetery Services" leaflet available by calling 01992
785507.
Cremated remains
A special area has been set aside at each cemetery for cremated
remains. The Cremated Remains Garden at Cheshunt Cemetery and
the Garden of Rest at Hoddesdon Cemetery both provide space for
burying ashes or simply erecting memorials* where ashes have been
scattered elsewhere.
An 18 inch square tablet is the standard memorial for the Cremated
Remains Gardens.
Ashes may also be buried in half size lawn or conventional graves
if a different memorial is preferred. For example, a standard
headstone on a lawn grave may be erected over buried ashes or a
conventional grave with kerbs and a headstone may be erected.
These graves will be located in the appropriate sections of the
cemetery.
Should a family member of the deceased wish to be buried rather
than cremated, the ashes can be buried in a full grave space
instead. This would allow for up to four coffin interments to
take place in the future in addition to the burial of the
ashes.
*Please note that memorials must be of solid, natural stone and
erected by an authorised momumental mason.
Child graves
Both cemeteries have a special area set aside for children's
graves. These include both lawn and conventional graves, as
above. Child graves are based on a half plot size.
Consecrated or unconsecrated ground
Both of the Borough of Broxbourne's cemeteries also offer a choice
in the type of ground where the grave can be located.
Consecrated ground has been blessed by the Bishop of the Church of
England. There is no restriction on who may be buried on
consecrated ground, but it is generally used by Church of England
parishioners.
Unconsecrated ground has not previously been blessed and is
available to anyone. Graves can be blessed at the time of
interment by the deceased's chosen minister of religion.
Grave memorials
Memorial safety - all memorials erected on graves within the
cemeteries must be, and remain in a safe, sound and stable
condition. Memorials remain the property of the grave owner (the
initial purchased, and subsequently their heirs and successors),
but the Council as the land owner is responsible for ensuring
that the grounds are safe for visitors and staff. In the event
of any memorial falling and injuring (or killing) anyone, both the
grave owner and the Council would be liable to prosecution.
For the above reasons: all memorials having any upright part
(eg. a headstone or cross) are tested for safety
every five years using a device known as a topple tester,
which pushes against the memorial with a force of 35kg. To date
approximately 90 per cent of the memorials have passed
this test, but in the event of failure the memorial will be made
temporarily safe and the owner advised that they must get the
memorial repaired.
British Register Of Accredited Memorial Masons
(BRAMM)
To help ensure that all memorials are installed properly in the
first place, Broxbourne Council is subscribing to a new scheme
managed by the National Association Of Monumental Masons (NAMM).
Masons must pass strict practical tests and apply vigorous business
practices and insurances to become a member of the accredited
monumental masons (BRAMM).
From 1 January 2008 only BRAMM registered monumental masons
will be permitted to install or perform structural works to both
existing and new memorials within the Borough's cemeteries.
Grave maintenance
Lawn graves are maintained by the Borough of Broxbourne, but
conventional and brick graves are usually maintained by family or
friends. The Borough of Broxbourne offers a grave maintenance
service for those who may be unable to maintain the grave
themselves, please see the leaflet "Cemetery Services" for further
details. Please also note that memorials are not maintained
by the Council.
Exhumation
The remains of deceased persons are protected by law
from disturbance, and cannot be removed from their place of
burial without due authority. For a body (or cremated remains)
buried in unconsecrated ground, this authority is a licence issued
by the Depertment of Constitutional Affairs; for consecrated
ground it is a faculty issued by the diocese in which the cemetery
lies. In rare cases, both are needed. In all cases where it is
proposed to exhume remains, the cemetery authority should be
contacted in the first instance.
Anyone wishing to find out more about exhumation should contact
the cemetery office on 01992 785507.
Municipal funerals
All local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that all
persons that die within their area of responsibility are buried or
cremated within a reasonable period. In the great majority of
cases, the deceased will have relatives who will (or must)
undertake this necessity, or will have left funds and instructions
for it to be undertaken on their own behalf. Occasionally, however,
someone will die who leaves no relatives and no money or property.
In these instances, the local authority must fund and arrange the
disposal of the body, in a dignified and sensitive manner, and as
far as possible complying with any last known wishes of the
deceased. This task falls within the remit of the environmental
health dept. of the local authority, who should be contacted for
further details.
Anyone wishing to find out more information on municipal
funerals should contact the cemterery office on 01992 785507.