Cemetery makeover

This follows accidents, including one in North Yorkshire when a six-year-old boy was crushed to death by a gravestone.

Since then stones across the country have been laid flat after inspections often sparking protests from relatives who were not informed.

But Swindon Council is reassuring people that gravestones will not be worked on without the registered grave owner being contacted wherever possible.

Gavin Calthrop, for the council, said: "This is the first safety inspection of this scale at Whitworth Cemetery and it will look at all the memorials.

"The council has an obligation to do this so that the cemetery does not become a hazard to the public.

"We appreciate the sensitive nature and no memorials will be altered or worked on without the owners being contacted.

"If it is impossible to contact the owners then responsibility falls to the land owner, Swindon Borough Council."

Where work is needed the grave owner, usually a relative who registered the grave, is responsible for the cost of repairing it.

There are approxi-mately 7,000 memorials at the cemetery although not all of these are large headstones.

Work will start at the cemetery, which opened in 1914, next week. The time it will take will depend on how many unsafe memorials are found.

In October the Adver reported gravestones had been laid flat at Wroughton Parish Church without all relatives being informed.

At the time, Canon Michael Johnson said the church had to make sure the graveyard was safe for visitors and that it was not always possible to get in touch with relatives before taking action.

Yesterday he said many of the stones which were laid flat then had now been put back up, with a new 'anchor system' to make them safe. The repairs cost under £100, he believed, which is met by the relatives.

He added that the church would continue its annual inspections and would endeavour to contact relatives where possible before carrying out work.

Isabel Field