AROUND 40 headstones at St Margaret's Cemetery in Lower Stratton have been lowered and bagged up in luminous plastic because they pose a risk to public safety.

Stratton St Margaret Parish Council is the first in the borough to introduce the Topple Tester a device that detects whether a headstone could fall over and injure someone.

Groundsmen have checked a small section of the cemetery's 3,000 graves and found some, including a child's headstone, to be unsafe.

Unsteady headstones have been bagged up in yellow plastic and laid on the grass until they can be restored.

The £800 Topple Tester is now being introduced across the country following cases where people have been seriously injured, and in one instance killed, by falling masonry.

The small hand-held machine is calibrated to the industry standard of 350 newtons, which is the amount of pressure that needs to be applied to ensure a memorial is safe.

A small pressure pad pushes against the top of the gravestone and in some cases moves the masonry with deceptive ease. It has taken two men to lower a headstone in some instances.

Safety experts are concerned about elderly individuals tending the graves of loved ones, or children becoming trapped under the weight of a falling stone.

Parish council deputy clerk, Caroline Buckland, 44, said: "We're now obliged by law to check the stability of headstones in the cemetery for health and safety reasons, but the parish council is extremely proud of the excellent standard of upkeep, which is down to our groundstaff.

"Unfortunately those headstones which are tested and found to be unstable have to be bagged up and then we contact relatives if we can. If we are unable to do so we will have to decide whether the council should pay for the restoration.

"Any memorial which gives way will be laid flat and where possible the grant holder of the grave will be informed so that they can make the necessary arrangements with a monumental mason for its repair."

The parish council has had difficulty tracing some relatives of those buried at the cemetery who have had to have their stones bagged up. Purchasers of plots at the cemetery have the right to it for 99 years.

Groundsman Lee Plank, 25, will spend the rest of the month testing graves in the cemetery and expects plenty more to be laid flat.

He said: "It will take some time to work through the entire cemetery, but some of the older headstones are quite solid while the newer ones give way easily. It isn't nice for people to see these stones laid down and wrapped up, but we're just concerned with people's safety."

For further information call Stratton St Margaret Parish Council on Swindon 823761.