View Full Version : Is it acceptable to re-use old graves?
dirtydog
19-09-2007, 12:21
Graves filled at least 75 years ago can now be re-used under new powers to ease pressure on London's cemeteries.
The plots can be deepened with room for up to six new coffins to be placed on top of the older remains.
Every effort must be made to contact any next of kin before remains are disturbed, the London Local Authorities Act 2007 states.
Ministers have said burial space in England and Wales will be full in 30 years unless changes are made.
Families could refuse permission for their ancestors' graves to be re-used for at least another generation.
But when the deeper graves have been re-used once, there will be no time constraints on when more bodies are buried in them.
The changes follow a 2004 government consultation which found most respondents were not opposed to re-using graves.
The powers are expected to be rolled out nationwide.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7002528.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7002528.stm
I wonder if they polled just londoners and if those polled had been living here long enough to be having their relatives graves reused.
dirtydog
19-09-2007, 19:32
I wonder if they polled just londoners and if those polled had been living here long enough to be having their relatives graves reused.
Are you as surprised as I was, to read that a supposed majority are happy for their relatives' graves to be re-used? It seems a bit off to me. I can't say I'd want some stranger's body put in the same grave as my parents or grandparents at all.
anarchist
20-09-2007, 07:59
I can't say I'd want some stranger's body put in the same grave as my parents or grandparents at all.
I'm an atheist so bodies mean fuck all to me :) I'll be using my parents as compost and, being gardeners, they will appreciate that :)
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 08:02
I'm an atheist so bodies mean fuck all to me :) I'll be using my parents as compost and, being gardeners, they will appreciate that :)
You don't need to be religious to want loved ones' bodies treated with respect once they have died. But anyway, I just posted that link as it seems to add to the weight of evidence that we are running out of space in Britain - which means mass immigration and population growth are foolish.
anarchist
20-09-2007, 08:10
You don't need to be religious to want loved ones' bodies treated with respect once they have died.
But if you are atheist then you must realise that once somebody is dead then that's it. The body is just a lump of meat.
Are you as surprised as I was, to read that a supposed majority are happy for their relatives' graves to be re-used? It seems a bit off to me. I can't say I'd want some stranger's body put in the same grave as my parents or grandparents at all.
You do realise that being black isnt contagious?
we are running out of space in Britain
No. We are running out of space where people are prepared to have cemeteries built.
This is more to do with NIMBYism than immigration.
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 09:12
You do realise that being black isnt contagious?
Would you want someone else's body buried in the same hole as your parents? It could be a mass murderer, a child rapist...
Would you want someone else's body buried in the same hole as your parents? It could be a mass murderer, a child rapist...
Well, both my parents were cremated, so its rather a moot point, but had they been buried then no, I wouldnt have any objections. I have no say over the other ashes that are scattered in the same place as they are, and that doesnt bother me, for example.
Bodies are just meat.
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 09:21
So if your mum died, it wouldn't bother you if her dead body was dragged through the streets, defecated on and then hung from a lamppost for people to look at? That wouldn't matter to you at all because it's just meat.
So if your mum died, it wouldn't bother you if her dead body was dragged through the streets, defecated on and then hung from a lamppost for people to look at? That wouldn't matter to you at all because it's just meat.
Yup, because thats very comparable to sharing a hole with a murderer that may be buried decades before, or after, right?
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 09:29
Yup, because thats very comparable to sharing a hole with a murderer that may be buried decades before, or after, right?
So you accept that there is some sort of emotional value attached to a loved one's body beyond their death? The question is how much and where you draw the line at what can and can't be done to the body or remains.
So you accept that there is some sort of emotional value to a loved one's body beyond their death? The question is how much and where you draw the line at what can and can't be done to the body or remains.
There is a line, and thats to do with the utility of an action.
There is a reason for sharing graves - there arent enough to go around. Id be interested to hear of a good reason for dragging corpses through streets, defecating on them, and then hanging them from lamposts....
What is wrong with cremation? If we run out of room, maybe burial sites will start to come at a premium that only the wealthy can afford..!
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 10:18
Personally I favour cremation but others for whatever reason prefer burials.
Personally I favour cremation but others for whatever reason prefer burials.
Cremation isn't particularly environmentally or living human friendly, currently 1/6th of mercury emissions in the UK come from cremations.
My personal preference would be for a woodland type burial with a tree planted over the top.
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 12:00
Cremation isn't particularly environmentally or living human friendly, currently 1/6th of mercury emissions in the UK come from cremations.
My personal preference would be for a woodland type burial with a tree planted over the top.
Is that right? :eek: I hadn't heard that before.
Me neither! Bit of a shocker. :eek:
BBC news report from a couple of years ago here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4160895.stm
I'm not happy with them doing the minimum required by having "mercury credits", if the filters reduce mercury output by 99% they really should go on all crematoria.
There's also a defra report on google saying that the above scheme is starting to have an effect but the overall problem is likely to increase as the generations of people who are more likely to have fillings are starting to hit that age.
anarchist
20-09-2007, 12:16
My personal preference would be for a woodland type burial with a tree planted over the top.
Me too, but I don't think my wife would go for it. She'll probably give me a full church service too, even though she knows I don't want that.
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 12:21
Me too, but I don't think my wife would go for it. She'll probably give me a full church service too, even though she knows I don't want that.
She would deliberately go against your previously expressed wishes?
anarchist
20-09-2007, 12:45
She would deliberately go against your previously expressed wishes?
I reckon she would given in to family pressure (what with hers being a big christian family). I might be wrong, but of course I won't be there to be proved right/wrong!
dirtydog
20-09-2007, 12:52
Why don't you discuss it now then (not literally right now ;)); let her know your wishes and get her to agree while you are still alive - if it is important to you that is.
'Some cunts on the internet are suggesting that, in the event of my death, you wouldnt respect my authoritai. Pack your bags.'
anarchist
20-09-2007, 13:56
'Some cunts on the internet are suggesting that, in the event of my death, you wouldnt respect my authoritai. Pack your bags.'
Do you have a microphone in my house? ;)
Do you have a microphone in my house? ;)
You didnt read the T&C's when you signed up?
anarchist
20-09-2007, 14:41
You didnt read the T&C's when you signed up?
Is one of them "You must submit to AUTHORITAI"? ;)
<let's see how long we can keep answering questions with questions ;)>
robmiller
20-09-2007, 15:55
At least 75 years after they were buried? That's not going to be my parents and almost certainly not my grandparents either (the earliest one of my grandparents to go was when I was 11, so I'll be 86 at the earliest).
Even if I did care about some sanctity of graves (which I don't), it's going to be my great-grandparents' generation at the very earliest. Considering I only met one of my great-grandparents and then only oncem--something that is pretty normal AFAIK, I don't know anyone that knew their great-grandparents well--I can't say I care about this, sorry!
ChemicalKicks
20-09-2007, 16:02
At least 75 years after they were buried? That's not going to be my parents and almost certainly not my grandparents either (the earliest one of my grandparents to go was when I was 11, so I'll be 86 at the earliest).
Even if I did care about some sanctity of graves (which I don't), it's going to be my great-grandparents' generation at the very earliest. Considering I only met one of my great-grandparents and then only oncem--something that is pretty normal AFAIK, I don't know anyone that knew their great-grandparents well--I can't say I care about this, sorry!
Hey, we agree on something. :)
anarchist
21-09-2007, 10:34
Why don't you discuss it now then (not literally right now ;)); let her know your wishes and get her to agree while you are still alive - if it is important to you that is.
Yeah I must do that at some point. I suppose it depends when I die really. Hopefully my kids will be grown up by then and so they will ensure my wishes are carried out.
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