The cemetery is owned and managed by Chesham Town Council for and on behalf of the residents of Chesham.
The cemetery caters for people of all faiths and none. Certain sections of the cemetery have been consecrated by the Church of England. The Avenue of Remembrance is available for the interment of ashes. Contact Maria for more information, on 07831 273 809 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm) or email [email protected]
Location
Chesham Cemetery is situated at the northern end of the town and may be accessed on foot by its Bellingdon Road, Berkhampstead Road and Alma Road entrances. Vehicle access is via Berkhampstead Road, Chesham, HP5 3ET.
Opening Hours and Accessibility
The pedestrian gates to the cemetery are open 24-hours-a-day. Please note, however, that there is no lighting in the cemetery. Vehicular access will be possible at the Berkhampstead Road entrance between approximately 8.30 am and 3.30 pm Monday to Thursday, with earlier closing at 3pm on Fridays. Visitors with mobility problems who are not able to visit the cemetery during these hours, are asked to contact Phil, a Friends of Chesham Cemetery volunteer on 0787 618 2661, to organise vehicular access into the cemetery.
Please note that in severe icy or snowy conditions, the cemetery will not be open, as the steep paths can become inaccessible during these conditions. The web site will be updated to notify the public of closures.
Interment in the Cemetery
The cemetery administration is performed by Maria McGwynn at the Town Hall. If you would like to discuss an interment in the cemetery, she can be contacted on 07831 273 809 (Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm) or by email to [email protected]
Our cemetery pages aim to provide a simple guide to our services. This information, and more, is also contained within our Guide to Chesham Cemetery. Please contact Maria to request a copy.
No interments can take place without written consent from the owner of the grave; this is the person named on the Exclusive Right of Burial.
Purchasing a Grave - Exclusive Right of Burial
The Exclusive Right of Burial is a deed of grant issued to a purchaser of a grave. The deed entitles the holder to determine who is buried in the grave and whether a memorial can be erected on the grave (subject to the Town Council’s specifications regarding memorials).
The Exclusive Right of Burial may be purchased when applying for an interment or for future use of a grave space for a period of 100 years. Grave spaces may be purchased by residents and non-residents of the town of Chesham.
The fees for non-residents of the town of Chesham will be double those of residents except where:-
- A resident has passed away in a nursing home or hospice outside the town, having moved in the previous 24 months.
- Where the person to be interred was immediately before his/her death an inhabitant or parishioner of the Town of Chesham.
- A person to whom the right is granted at least 12 months prior to death is an inhabitant or parishioner of the Town of Chesham.
At the end of the 100 year period of the Exclusive Right of Burial, the owner, or his/her heirs, shall have the choice of renewing that right subject to the rules and regulations in force at that time.
When the owner of a grave dies, they may be buried in the grave. It will then be necessary to transfer the ownership of the grave.
Transfer of Ownership
The transfer of the ownership of the Exclusive Right of Burial requires the approval of the Town Council, and will require the production of evidence as to the ownership of the Right and full details of the proposed new owner. Any such transfer of ownership must be recorded at the Town Hall and there is a fee associated with it.
A transfer of ownership will need to occur when the owner of a grave dies. Transfer of ownership is based on the wishes of the owner and will be based on their wishes as expressed in their Last Will and Testament, Probate, or Letters of Administration. If the owner did not leave a will, a transfer will be completed by Statutory Declaration and issued to the next of kin of the deceased. The Statutory Declaration will need to be signed and witnessed in front of a Commissioner of Oaths (for a small fee).
Whilst this may seem daunting, our experienced staff will be able to talk you through this process.
Follow these links to find out more about the interment procedure and the interment of cremated remains.
Memorials
Chesham Cemetery contains a wide diversity of beautiful memorials as a consequence of being in operation for over 150 years. Written approval must be obtained from the Town Council before any memorials are installed or altered.
Headstones and tablets are permitted on a grave or vault subject to an application being submitted to and approved by Chesham Town Council. Memorial applications can only be made by the owner of the grave concerned (this is the person named on the Exclusive Right of Burial). If you wish to apply for a memorial or wish to add additional inscriptions to an existing memorial when the owner of the grave is deceased, it will be necessary to arrange for a Transfer of Exclusive Right of Burial. Our trained and experienced staff will be able to talk you through this process.
Applications must be submitted to the Town Council via the Memorial Application form below. All fees must be paid at least two weeks before any work is undertaken so that approval is granted for:
- erecting or placing a new memorial
- replacing, adding to or removing any memorial
- adding to or altering any inscription on a memorial
- carrying out repair work
It is necessary to allow a new interment a settlement time of six months before approval can be given for erection of a headstone.
Upon payment of the appropriate fees a permit valid for five years will be issued. Upon expiry, the permit will be renewable for a further five years on payment of a nominal fee.
Applying for a Memorial
When filling in the memorial application form, details on the application form must include:
- The grave number, and the letter representing the section of the cemetery.
- The full name of the deceased.
- In the case of a new or replacement memorial, a drawing of the memorial showing the specifications (see Memorial Specifications and Standards), including the material (stone) to be used along with the colour and finish.
- The text of any inscription (or alteration to any existing inscription), including the type, colour and finish.
- The name, address and signature of the person making the application (who should be the owner of the Exclusive Right of Burial. Please see the Memorials secrtion above, for what to do if you are not the grave owner).
Memorial Specifications and Standards
Specifications for Memorials
The inscriptions should be ‘simple and reverent’. All memorials shall be inscribed with the grave number.
Headstone
Maximum height 107 cm above ground with a maximum width of 60cm including the base.
To be fitted in a concrete shoe set a minimum of 30 cm below the ground
Front plinth and flower holder (if required) maximum 23 cm
Recumbent stone
Maximum dimensions 54 cm x 54 cm
Avenue of Remembrance
Memorial tablets maximum dimensions 54 cm x 54 cm
Garden of Remembrance
A recumbent tablet in the Garden of Remembrance 30cm x 30cm (12″ x 12″)
Memorial Standards
All monumental work must be carried out by an experienced monumental mason and in accordance with the National Association of Monumental Masons (NAMM) Code of Practice (1998) and all subsequent amendments and in conjunction with regulations imposed by the Town Council. Chesham Town Council reserves the right to order the removal or improvement of any memorial considered to be unsafe or to be in breach of the specifications originally approved, and at the expense of the owner of the Exclusive Right of Burial.
The removal and replacement of a memorial to facilitate the reopening of a purchased grave shall be at the expense of and arranged by the owner of the Exclusive Right of Burial.
Memorial Responsibilities and Regulations
Any memorial erected or placed in the cemetery remains the responsibility of the owner of the Exclusive Right of Burial. The memorial is the sole risk of, and must be kept in a good and safe state of repair by the owner.
Chesham Town Council shall not be held responsible for any damage or breakage, however caused, to any memorial within the cemetery.
Glass containers, fencing, garden edging statues and ornaments are not permitted. Soft stem flowers and potted plants are allowed to be kept only within the allocated space of the headstone.
Please remove dead flowers; the Town Council will remove dead flowers when found.
In the Garden of Remembrance and Avenue of Remembrance, all tributes must be contained within the boundary of the base slab.
The Town Council reserves the right to remove any tributes that do not comply with the rules stated above.
Cemetery History & Burial Records
The cemetery was established in 1857 and the first burial took place in 1858.
Burial Registers
Registers of Burials for the cemetery, starting in 1858, are kept at the Town Hall.
We have digitised the cemetery records, which can now be searched online, free of charge. Please note that for compassionate reasons, we do not show burial records from the last five years. The online search results will show you the name of the deceased, the grave number, year of death, age at death, and occupation (if known). The results will also show you the location of the grave on our cemetery map. Owing to the thousands of records that have been input, there may be typographical errors within the data; we would welcome corrections – please contact [email protected] or call Maria on 07831 273 809 if you believe a record needs correcting.
Alternatively, searches in the registers, which contain as a minimum the name and age of the persons buried, the grave number, and the date of burial, may be made during office hours (10am to 4pm Monday to Friday). There may be a small fee for this service. Enquiries can be made via email to [email protected] or by phone on 07831 273 809.
Friends of Chesham Cemetery
The Friends of Chesham Cemetery is comprised of residents, who are all interested in the condition and future of Chesham Cemetery. The Friends meet twice a year to plan maintenance and enhancement projects, but also have regular working parties in the cemetery in conjunction with Chesham Environmental Group carrying out maintenance work such as litter picking and refurbishing benches. Since 2011, the Friends have been refurbishing some of the older graves in the cemetery.
The Friends have also conducted guided tours of the cemetery and put on historical displays as part of Chesham’s Heritage Weekends and for Remembrance Sunday.
The Friends of Chesham Cemetery are very keen to recruit new members. If you would like to join, or find out more about their work, please contact the Town Hall by email to [email protected] or by phone on 07831 273 809 (Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm).
Cemetery Wildlife
Working with the Town Council, the Friends of Chesham Cemetery initiated the Chesham Cemetery Wildflower Project in 2007. The cemetery has a lot of wildlife potential, as it is an area of unimproved chalk grassland. This is a rare habitat as most chalk grasslands have been ploughed up or fertilised. The cemetery land has never been treated in this way, and in consultation with families of the deceased interred in the cemetery, the Friends identified a sample area where the management of the land has been changed to revive the old meadow that would once have been there. Within the first year, aquilegia and red clover had already returned. In conjunction with the Chesham and District Natural History Society there is also a scheme to monitor the butterflies and plants in the cemetery.
