safety testing of tomb stones

by email from the Bristol_and_Somerset Mailing List:-

In our area of North Somerset, the council are at the moment visiting all local Church Yards to test the safety of all the Tomb Stones.
They are tested by means of a machine which tests whether they are safe or are likely to topple over. Our local Church, St Peters Portishead has been visited and at the moment about 80% of all the graves have been looked at.

We now have a situation where a lot of graves have there stones supported by a wooden stake with a letter on it.
In this case the owners have 1 month to have them repaired and reset or they will be laid down on the grave itself.

Of a lot of the other graves, the ones which are deemed unsteady, they have already been laid down on the grass or grave. Obviously a lot of these are very old and will never be repaired as the owners or interested members of the family have long gone.

A lot of people are angry about this. There is a huge cost involved for some people but also a lot of the history in the Church Yard is being lost.

They are laying down the stones so that some of the inscriptions can still be read but it won't be long before the council mowers damage the stones or the grass and weeds grow over and they will be lost.

A great shame, anyone who has a family grave here should take a look while the stones are still able to be read.
Jenny.