UK authorities want to reuse graves as burial space diminishes

Laws in effect since Victorian times are causing UK funeral authorities problems as burial space runs low. Some have requested to reuse old graves and policy reviews are ongoing.

Does the New Year make anyone else think of death? Just me then… okay.

We apologise for such a morbid topic during your festivities, but a squeamish attitude is probably what landed us here in the first place.

Cemeteries throughout England and Wales are running out of space to bury the dead, and calls to overhaul an archaic legislation stretching back over 120 years are getting louder.

Dating back to the Victorian era, a set of rules governing both England and Wales ratified that no grave can ever be reused — no matter how much time has passed, and how sparse graves become.

Today, that stipulation remains in effect, and it has come to pass that many cemeteries have used up all…