What would happen with old monuments if graves are reused?
There has been some discussion of what should happen to memorials in a reuse scenario. At the City of London Cemetery, a pilot project – based on reclaimed grave spaces – has tested processes and methods for the reuse of monuments. However, it is likely that in many cemeteries, it will be possible that reuse could be targeted at areas where some clearance has already taken place. The clearance of all grave furniture was a popular and common maintenance option for cemetery managers in the period after the First World War. The process was gradual, and reflected a modernist rejection of Victorian aesthetics and an embracing of new lawn cemetery design. As a first measure, local authorities would usually flatten body mounds, which were raised earth platforms – around 60 cm high – marking the grave. Steps would then be taken to bury kerbsets. None of these procedures entailed disturbance of remains. Clearance procedures accelerated in the post-World War II period, and included the removal o
