Gravestone testing on the way to village

It will be a first at cemetery

GRAVESTONES in a village churchyard are to be ‘rocked’ as part of a safety campaign.

The checks, which involve the parish clerk carrying out a manual ‘push, pull’ test, determine if the monuments pose a threat and could topple and injure someone.

If there is movement the stones at the open section of Knock Verges cemetery in Stoney Stanton will be laid down to prevent accidents.

Health and Safety Executive guidelines from 2001 gave responsibility for headstone safety to parish councils and officers have been encouraged to carry out regular inspections following a number of accidents - including the death of an eight-year-old boy last May who was playing in a Glasgow cemetery.

Roz Ward, who took over as parish clerk a year ago, said to the best of her knowledge the testing had never been done before.

She said: “It is a requirement that we publicise the testing before it takes place, so there has been an advert in the media and it has gone into our village newsletter and on the website.

“I am happy for people to be there with me when I am testing the stone of a family member because it is a memorial marker for a loved one and normally the thought of a stranger touching it would be upsetting for some people.”

She said with a manual check only the necessary minimum force was exerted on the gravestone, previously tests had involved machinery which more often than not caused unwanted damage.

Once carried out if a stone is found to have movement the clerk has to go through a formal process of contacting the last known next of kin to alert them to the problem.

The family can then make arrangements for restorative care. If there is no one to take action then the stones are laid down to prevent them tumbling over. Stones which have only a slight movement will be checked again in a couple of years while all markers are expected to be tested on a five-yearly cycle.

Knock Verges has two sections, a closed area, which dates back to the 1800s and has had no new interments since around 1975, and the parish council run plot which is active.

Most interments are now ashes, with just one burial having taken place so far this year.

Roz said she had received no contact as yet from any concerned family members.