Wickham Road Cemetery Proposed Memorial Work

Background

Wickham Road Cemetery, Fareham opened in 1889. It was acquired and managed by the local Board for the District of Fareham acting as the Urban Sanitary Authority, which has now become Fareham Borough Council acting as the Burial Authority.  

 

As a Burial Authority, Fareham Borough Council is responsible to protect the safety of all cemetery users under the Health and Safety Act 1974 and is committed to a programme of memorial inspections.

 

Further to the inspection of the memorials in Wickham Road Cemetery in January 2004, many memorials were reported as unstable and unsafe. Further inspections since that date, revealed that in addition to the risk of memorials toppling over, many memorials had fallen in disrepair and collapsed over the course of time. Many of them were potential trip hazards, dilapidated and other just lumps of broken stones and needed tidying up.

 

Due to the age of the memorials, Fareham Borough Council cannot trace their owners and in order to address the problems noted, a programme of works has established. The proposed memorial work is aimed to enhance the appearance of the cemetery for future generations, ease maintenance, reduce health and safety issue but maintain the character of this Victorian Cemetery.

Proposed work 

The proposed memorial work is scheduled to take place in the older areas of the cemetery during 2008.

 

There are about 2030 memorials in these areas which mainly consist of:

• Crosses on stepped plinths
• Headstones
• Monumental memorials
• Kerbsets with and without headstones

681 memorials ie 33.61% of the number of memorials have been identified to be in need of attention/repairs, the proposed works have been divided into different categories of work including:

• Refixing: 111 memorials have already been refixed as they were unstable,

• Refixing: 170 memorials are to be refixed during autumn 2007, including memorials and crosses collapsed or laid flat at the time of inspection because they were unstable and minor repairs to kerbs sets and posts to avoid further deterioration of these memorials and preserve their appearance,

• Removal and disposal of unstable, broken or collapsed unauthorised memorials erected on unpurchased graves and approx over 50 years old: 130,

• Dilapidated kerbsets with stable headstones: 35 the work includes the removal and disposal of platforms/chippings and kerbsets and ensuring headstones are stable after this work has been undertaken,

• Dilapidated kerbsets with inscriptions and without headstones: 116 the work includes the removal and disposal of platforms/chippings and the setting flush at ground level of the kerb sets with inscriptions visible,

• Dilapidated kerbsets with collapsed headstones: 62 the work includes the removal and disposal of platforms/chippings and kerbsets and the re-erection of the headstones,  

• Other kerbs to be refixed or set flush at ground level: 36 The work to be undertaken will be re-assessed once the cost has been obtained for both options. The position of the memorial in the cemetery will also influence the decision,

• Miscellaneous repairs: 21 including reversing position of crossed, removal memorial plinths and setting parts of memorials with inscription flat at ground level.

Factors taken into consideration

• If an exclusive Right of Burial/Right to Maintain a Memorial was purchased,

• The age of the memorial, the majority of memorials less than 50 years have been refixed. A special consideration has been given to children’s memorials who may still have living relatives,

• The condition of the memorial was assessed and taking into account,

• The historical value of the memorial,

• Kerbsets: Whether the kerbset had a headstone or not. Traditionally kerbsets with headstones have plain kerbs with no inscriptions as any inscriptions are on the actual headstone. When there are no headstones, the inscriptions can be found on the actual kerbs. Such kerbs will be set at ground level with inscriptions visible,

• To leave as many grave markers as possible,

• The Council’s regulations & the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977,

• The cemetery does not have any suitable boundaries such as walls where memorials could be re-erected against,

• A consistent approach in the decision made has been used, regardless whether the memorials are within a consecrated or a not-consecrated area.

For further enquires please contact the Parks & Cemeteries Officer on 01329 236100 or email customerservices@fareham.gov.uk.

 

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