BURIAL POLICY AT ST. PAUL'S, GOOSE GREEN
The following burial policy has been approved by the Vicar and Parochial Church Council of St. Paul's, Goose Green and is the policy which is operated with regard to burials in St. Paul's Churchyard.
Who can be buried...
The following persons may be buried in St. Paul's Churchyard :-
a), persons who are resident in the parish at the time of death or who die in the parish;
b). non-parishioners who nevertheless have a statutory right (e.g. under the Pastoral Measure 1983, on the formation of a new parish);
c). persons customarily regarded as parishioners (e.g. ex-parishioners and non-parishioners for whom family graves or vaults are desired to be opened or whose close relatives have been buried in the Churchyard);
d). persons on the church electoral roll at the date of death;
e). persons who, although not parishioners and not on the church electoral roll at the date of death, nevertheless are known to have been habitual attenders of St. Paul's Church.
f). the courtesy of a burial in St. Paul's Churchyard will also be extended to a person who, although not a parishioner and not on the church electoral roll at the date of death, is the spouse or a dependent child of a person who is a habitual attender of St. Paul's Church. (Persons who have attended services at St. Paul's occasionally, or normally only for family occasions like baptisms and weddings, are not considered to have been habitual attenders.)
Before 1996, the proposed Wigan By-pass was to have been built across the Churchyard leaving very little land available for new graves. At that time allocation of new grave spaces in St. Paul's Churchyard was restricted to persons in the above categories. Following the redesign of the By-pass a substantially larger area of land for burials was released. Thus, since 1996, it has been customary to allow the burial in a new grave space of parishioners and members of other local churches of various denominations which have no burial ground of their own.
Exhumations and reburials...
It is considered proper that buried remains should be left undisturbed to rest in peace. It follows that permission for an exhumation or reburial is unlikely to be granted. A request for an exhumation or reburial made more than 12 months after the original date of burial is very unlikely to be granted. After full consideration of the facts, and in exceptional circumstances only, permission might be granted.
All requests for exhumations and reburials must be made to the Vicar. The Vicar will give advice about the procedure to be followed and possible costs involved. The procedure will definitely involve seeking approval from various Church authorities and may also involve seeking approval from certain government authorities.
Grave spaces...
Grave spaces may not be reserved.