Regulations of the Folkestone Burial Board
(Folkestone Chronicle 17 Jan 1857)
- Notices to be given, in the form prescribed, to the clerk to the burial board, at his office, Church Street, between the hours of 10 and 5, at least two days previous to any interment, – if in a vault or brick grave, then three days – in every case exclusive of Sunday, (emergencies excepted.)
- All board fees and charges must be paid to the clerk, at his office, on notice being given of an interment and before the notice is accepted.
- Interments must take place at a spot to be designated by the officer of the board, except in cases of sites to be selected, in respect of which the double fee is to be paid.
- The Registrar’s certificate of the death, or the coroner’s warrant when an inquest had been held, must be delivered to the officiating minister, or the superintendent, previous to the interment of the body.
- No burial can take place before 10 a.m. or after sunset, without special permission (Sundays excepted.)
- Coffins of wood only shall be used in graves where the exclusive right of burial has not been purchased.
- The upper part of every coffin must be not less than four feet below the surface of the ground.
- No more than one body shall be buried in any vault or grave, except in a vault or grave purchased for the exclusive use of a family.
- Burials will not be allowed in the chapels.
- Brick graves and vaults shall be opened from the top, unless the ground required for entrance shall have been purchased.
- The brickwork or masonry in any grave or vault must be executed by the person appointed by the purchaser, subject to the regulations of the board, and all surplus soil removed from the ground (if required) at the expense of the purchaser.
- If any damage be caused by the bringing in of any materials, gravestone or monuments, the person or persons causing the damage will be required to make it good.
- Copper cramps shall be used in the erection of tablets etc.
- No headstones or railings to exceed five feet in height above the ground.
- All monuments, tablets, and gravestones, and all places of burial, shall be kept clean, and in good repair, by the owners thereof respectively and in default, thereof the same shall be forfeited to the board, who shall be entitled to take possession thereof, and all the grounds belonging thereto.
- No interment shall take place in any vault unless the corpse be enclosed in an air-tight metallic coffin.
- Prior to any second or subsequent interment in a purchased vault or grave, the written consent of the owner, or his heirs, must be obtained and left at the office of the board with the notice of the burial.
- A drawing of every memorial, with the proposed inscription, to be submitted for the approval of the board before erection.
- A plan of the cemetery, open for inspection from 10 till 5, without charge, will be kept at the office of the board, and also at the lodge.
- The burial ground will be open to the public between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Michaelmas to Lady Day, and from 10 to 8 from Lady Day to Michaelmas, except on Sundays, when it will be open from 1 to 6, but not after sunset.
