Burial

Booking a Burial

If you are looking to book a burial your Funeral Director will make sure we receive the necessary forms and help you with booking the funeral arrangements.

Your Funeral Director will need to adhere to the following:

• New graves - 10 working days before the burial date
• Re-open graves - 4 working days before the burial date

Before a burial can take place the following forms from the Funeral Director have to be completed and received no later than 9am two working days before the burial date:

• Notice of interment
• Consent for interment - signed by the next of kin or executor
• Registrar's Certificate for Disposal or Coroner's Order for Burial

Burials are available at the following cemeteries:

• Weston Mill Cemetery
• Efford Cemetery
• Longcause Cemetery
• Ridge Cross Cemetery

There is more information available regarding our cemeteries and graves available in our Helpful cemetery advice

Apply for a burial

Usually this will be done via your Funeral Director however, the forms can be viewed here:

Apply for a burial (PDF, 74 KB)

Consent for a burial in a new grave (PDF, 73 KB)

Consent for a burial in a reopened grave (PDF, 73 KB)

The Service

Services can be held in the ceremony rooms at The Park Crematorium and can be booked for 30, 45 or 90 minutes Monday to Friday.

The content of the service can be made up of poems, prayers, hymns, personal music and tributes about the person.

Viewings of the ceremony rooms can be arranged by appointment.

Our Bereavement Service Staff are available to discuss any queries you may have.

Email cemeteries@plymouth.gov.uk.(opens new window) or call 01752 307770. The office opening hours are 10am - 3pm Monday to Friday.

The Burial

On the day of the burial the grave will have been prepared and dressed ready for the service. The committal will take place at the graveside and may include prayers and readings. Webs are provided to enable the bearers to carefully lower the coffin or casket into the grave. You may scatter soil onto the coffin or throw flowers into the grave as directed by your Funeral Director. Immediately after the mourners have left the graveside the grave will be backfilled and made tidy. Floral tributes can then be placed on the grave.

Buying or reserving a grave

Graves are no longer sold as freehold but can be leased for 25, 50 or 100 years. Leases can be bought in advance. 

When you buy a lease Plymouth City Council still own the land and the responsibility for its management remains with us but as deed owner you have the exclusive right of burial in that grave. You will also need to give written permission for someone else to be buried in the grave or to place a memorial. When a deed expires, a renewal letter will be sent to the last known address of the person named on the deed.

If the deed owner dies, deeds can be transferred subject to a formal transfer process and this will include a Justice of the Peace or a Commissioner for Oaths witnessing completion of the forms. If you require assistance a solicitor offers a service for this. Should you wish to use the grave for future interments or scatterings then the deed will need to be transferred. There is an ownership transfer fee payable to the cemetery. Both of the following transfer forms need to be completed:

Declaration re missing deed of grant or transfer of burial right (PDF, 63 KB)

Deed of indemnity (PDF, 59 KB)

You will need to inform us of any change of address or circumstances in writing so that we can amend our records.

Memorials

We recommend waiting at least six months after a burial to allow the ground to settle before placing a memorial. A council approved stonemason will be able to assist you with your memorial choice including the cemetery paperwork, prices and placing the stone correctly on the grave.

Please note the cemetery paperwork will need to be signed by the deed owner. An inscription can be added to the existing memorial but a new headstone would require a formal deed transfer if the existing deed owner has passed away.

Once a memorial is in place the deed owner is responsible for it including keeping it in good repair. 

Tracing a family grave

We have details of all burials within our cemetery grounds.

To trace a family grave please email cemeteries@plymouth.gov.uk., call 01752 307770 for Efford and Weston Mill cemeteries or complete the grave search form below (there may be a charge for this).

Search for a grave (PDF, 72 KB)

Apply for an exhumation license 

Exhumation is the removal from the ground of the remains of a human being, either in the form of a body or cremated remains. You need to apply for a licence to remove human remains from the ground. The exhumation cannot proceed if the conditions of the licence are not met or there are public health or decency concerns.

Apply for an exhumation license

A coroner can decide to exhume a body for:

• an inquest or inquiring into the death
• criminal proceedings for that death or a connected death

A body or cremated remains may also need to be exhumed:

• to move from an original grave to a new family plot
• to bring or send back from another country to be buried with family members
• to transfer from one cemetery scheduled for development to another

An environmental health officer must be present at the exhumation to make sure that:

• the correct grave is opened
• the exhumation starts early in the morning to ensure maximum privacy
• the plot is screened for privacy
• the health and safety of all workers
• everyone present shows due respect to the deceased person and adjoining graves
• the name plate on the casket corresponds to that on the licence
• the new casket is approved
• all human remains and all the pieces of casket are placed in the new casket
• the new casket is properly sealed
• the area of exhumation is disinfected
• arrangements are in place as to what is going to happen to the body or remains