THREE years ago the Greater London Authority said that London had only enough burial land for six more years.
Cremation, the obvious alternative, is not for everyone and in any case produces greenhouse gases, and so many faith communities are now looking at creating woodland burial grounds.
Twelve years ago, Britain’s first woodland burial ground was opened in Carlisle. The Natural Death Centre, which produces The Natural Death Handbook, now lists about 200 woodland or green burial grounds. They are quite unlike the traditional cemeteries with their lines of marble tombs. Most woodland grounds have been created on depleted farmland, which is no longer commercially viable, or in areas of old forest, which in the past were used for coppicing or charcoal-making.
In most cases the woodland is left to grow almost wild. Some green burial grounds are even used for grazing sheep, and at least one burial ground has been built on an old orchard, with the graves placed between the apple trees.
The Church of England has set up its own woodland burial ground at Barton Glebe in Cambridgeshire, under the control of the Bishop of Ely. Barton Glebe has had about 100 burials in the past six years, 40 of them within the past 12 months. It accepts people of any faith, or indeed of none. Sally Heavens is the guardian of the Arbory Trust, which runs the site. She conducts many of the funeral services.
She claims that the simplicity of the site is deliberate. “We use simple wooden grave markers that will decay,” she says. “We want to preserve and develop the environment. We are not offering permanent, individual memorials. People become part of the site.
“It makes the whole place very loving. We believe that there are lots of roads to one God. It is less austere than most burial grounds and people who haven’t been to a church on a regular basis feel that it’s more fitting.”
Peter Owen-Jones, the Anglican priest and broadcaster who helped to set up Barton Glebe, points out that gravestones only became widespread about 150 years ago, with the growth of the middle class. Before that most graves were unmarked. “We’ve created a huge sea of stone, most of it imported,” he said. He believes that, for spiritual reasons, woodland burial grounds should be widely adopted. “As Christians we say that we believe in God, the creator of Heaven and Earth. As a theological idea, we’re not taking this seriously. The Church should speak up about the environment. We have to work with creation. We need a living relationship with the land.”
Most of the green burial grounds are privately run. A short drive from Brentwood in Essex, a few miles off the M25, is Herongate Wood. The burial ground overlooks beautiful countryside, sweeping to the Dartford Crossing and across to Kent. In early summer, the small pond on the site is alive with dragonflies and the meadowland is waist-high with hay.
The only sign of its use is an avenue of trees which leads down to mature woodlands. At the end of the path are small granite plaques, each about 20cm square, laid flat on to the ground. Each one marks a grave and between the graves are a number of saplings.
The ground is run as a commercial concern. Ray Ward is managing director. He has built a chapel of rest and a prayer room. The burial costs are a basic £1,350 including a coffin. Because of environmental concerns, he will only allow bamboo, wicker or plain wood coffins and bodies may not be embalmed.
Almost any kind of ceremony or celebration is permitted. “We are pleased to let people have picnics on the grounds. One boy, who came to his grandmother’s funeral, wouldn’t let go of his football. So he went to the funeral kicking a football, and that was fine.”
So far about 95 people have been buried at the ground, since it was opened two years ago. There were 10 in the first year and 85 the next. A variety of faiths have been represented. There have been humanists, Methodists, Buddhists and Anglicans as well as mixed-faith couples.
For a younger generation, these “green” burials seem more relevant to their lifestyle. Mike Jarvis, who runs the Natural Death Centre, explained: “The baby-boomers, who started recycling bottles in the 1970s and became environmentally aware, are now burying their parents and in some cases their partners. They like the idea that their body is giving something back to the ground.”
However, some Catholics are concerned that the creation of woodland burial grounds is taking the emphasis away from the Church’s concept of death and resurrection. Father Tom Jordan, vice-chairman of the National Conference of Priests, said: “Many people prefer the formal grave. They want to tend the grave as if the person was still alive. With green burial grounds, decay and renewal is being stressed rather than personal resurrection. Woodland burial embodies a more modern view of death.”
Other faiths are generally sympathetic to the idea of woodland burials. Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, chairman of community affairs at the Muslim Council of Britain, says that woodland burial grounds would be acceptable to Muslims as long as the land were set aside for graves and not exploited commercially for farming or forestry.
He added that Muslims were traditionally buried in just a shroud, so he would have no problem with a more natural funeral. However, he did not know of any Muslims who had chosen to be buried in woodlands.
Jews also have no religious objection to green burial grounds. However, Dayan Menachem Gelley, one of the senior rabbinical judges responsible for Orthodox Jewish burial, said that graves required some kind of large permanent memorial, so it would always be possible to tell where a body was placed. The memorial would have to be the length of the tree and would have to be permanent. “We couldn’t have biodegradable markers,” he said.
Perhaps the most favourable response has come from progressive Jews. Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi, of Birmingham Progressive Synagogue, has done research into woodland burial. She believes that, within the next few years, the Union of Liberal and Progressive Jews may buy its own woodland burial site. “I’ve officiated at two woodland burials. One of them was very moving, because it was a child from a mixed marriage. Our own synagogue grounds are filling up fast, so it’s something we’ll have to consider.”
The Natural Death Handbook costs £15.50 from the Natural Death Centre, tel 0871 2882098, www.naturaldeath.org.uk
