Take it to the grave: the haunting history of UK burial laws
Many stories and mythical and religious characters are associated with this time of year, which continue to scare, delight and indulge our children. But there is some truth in these stories, many of which have shaped our history and some of our most ancient laws.
Pope Gregory III, who reigned between 731-741AD, established November 1 as All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, and since then, this religious day has become an important part of our Autumn calendar. Much loved by children who take the opportunity to fully exploit the sugary worms and chocolate skulls on offer, adorned in costumes of the walking dead.
Domain over the dead
The Church had domain over the dead for much of the medieval and post-medieval periods. Burials were governed by ecclesiastical law and took place in parish churchyards. All parishioners and inhabitants of a parish and anyone dying in a parish had, and still have today, a right at common law to be buried in the local churchyard.
One of the earliest laws on the depth at which bodies must be buried is a 1665 Order of the Lord Mayor of the City of London, stating that bodies must be buried at least six feet deep in an attempt to stop the bubonic plague.
As the country industrialised and urban populations grew, our churchyards became overloaded – one historic text described the situation in the 1700s as dire as coffins were “stacked above the ground rather than interred”. Body snatchers were at large, stealing corpses to sell to anatomists as the graveyards were overflowing. Something had to change.
Burial Laws Amendment Act
In 1880, the Burial Laws Amendment Act was passed, which allowed for burials in churchyards without Anglican rites. Around the same sort of time, individual dissenter cemeteries were established, and alternative graveyards were opened to help address the problem.
It seems that we are now facing the same problems as burial space is running out. The reuse of old graves has been proposed as a solution to the problem. The Law Commission has launched a consultation on the matter and proposes to bring the laws on burial and cremation up to date, some of which are 170 years old and still in place today.
We will have to wait for the outcome of that consultation, but in the meantime, sleep well. As they say, it’s all just a bunch of hocus pocus.
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