----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Price" <rprice84043(a)yahoo.com>
To: <POWYS(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 10:06 PM
Subject: [POWYS] Church and Chapel Graveyards
I was hoping someone could tell me how Church and Chapel graveyard
burial
plots in Powys are/were allocated. Do individuals purchase the plots ...
No - certainly not in the former established church (Church of
England/Church in Wales), and probably not in most nonconformist chapels
either. Families might sometimes express their preferences, and the church
authorities might (at least) sometimes try to respect these in so far as
they deemed it practical - especially where proximity to existing family
burials was concerned. But they were under no obligation to please the
family on every single occasion.
Purchase of plots would be more likely to happen in private or
municipally-run cemeteries.
There was an ancient right to claim burial within the parish churchyard if
one normally resided in that particular parish, or if one happened to die
within the parish. Other burials might sometimes have been permitted at the
discretion of the incumbent. Many nonconformists would, of course, have
preferred in any case to choose burial within their own chapelyards.
and the Church or Chapel maintain the plots?
No doubt most churches will try to keep the churchyard generally tidy to
whatever extent they are able to do so. But they are under no obligation to
guarantee the tidiness of every particular plot. Furthermore they are also
under no obligation to maintain every memorial in good condition, and they
may remove them after giving a due period of notice if their condition is
ever considered dangerous. Any further responsibility for the tidiness of
individual plots and the satisfactory maintenance of memorials remains with
the representatives of the families concerned.
AJ