GRAVEYARD REGULATIONS

Parish Graveyards in Ballycastle, Ballintoy & Ballinlea

The parish graveyards are owned and maintained by the parishes for the use of their parishioners. As a result of a number of recent enquiries and in the interest of providing clarity and ensuring consistency, the following rules will apply to all parishioners in respect of the use of the Parish Graveyards.

Regulations

  1. A grave can only be allocated on the occasion of a death. Graves will be opened in a consecutive pattern dependent on condition and weather. Grave plots cannot be booked in advance. The left-hand side of the graveyard must be used first.

  2. A grave may only be allocated by the Parish Priest or his nominees. It will be a single plot (8 feet six inches approx. x 4 feet).

  3. Only one person will be registered as the custodian of the family grave. Each family should nominate a person (normally next of kin) to be responsible for the grave.

  4. Permission must be granted by the named custodian of the grave and by the Parish Priest or his nominees before a grave shall be reopened.

  5. Human remains shall not be removed from a grave unless ordered by legal requirement.

  6. Before erecting a headstone in the cemetery, a drawing and script of the proposed memorial must be submitted to the Parish Priest or his nominees, c/o Parish Office, Mon-Fri 9am-2pm. This also applies to subsequent additions or alterations to the headstone. The parish cannot accept liability for damage caused to graves or headstones.

  7. All monumental sculptors (having been commissioned by the family member named in section 3) must contact the Parish Priest or his nominees before commencing any work to ensure the proper placing of headstones. These should be erected back to back and should be no more than 4 feet high and 3 feet 9 inches wide.

  8. The erection or placing of pillars, railings, hoops or other structures, movable or immovable, on graves, for the purpose of enclosing them, is strictly prohibited and if erected will be removed at the family’s expense.

  9. To facilitate grave maintenance, no tree, shrub or flowers may be planted; nor should any additional grave furniture be placed on the grave, and no false surfaces are to cover the grave. The headstone should be the sole monument. Bouquets and wreaths placed on the grave should be removed when faded, withered, broken or discoloured. (If this is not adhered to the grass may not be cut).

  10. Only gravediggers approved of by the parish with adequate public liability insurance will be allowed to dig graves in the graveyard.

    The purpose of these regulations is not to restrict the freedom of the users but rather to ensure that our Parish cemetery will be testimony to our faith in the Resurrection and our reverence and respect for the dead. These regulations will be effective from January 2019. The Parish reserves the right to vary these regulations at any time in the future by deletion, addition, or modification.

    With effect from January 2019 a levy of £500 will be made on each burial undertaken.

    This also includes existing family graveyard plots.