A “PERFECT storm” of error and circumstance led to the burial mix-up which resulted in a family visiting the wrong grave for 17 years, the Archdeacon of Sunderland, the Ven. Bob Cooper, has concluded in his diocesan review of the case.
When the family of Thomas Bell had come to bury his wife, Hilda, next to his remains in the churchyard at Holy Trinity, Wingate, County Durham, in July, they had found the remains of someone else there. It emerged that Mr Bell had been buried elsewhere in the churchyard. They had had to wait eight weeks to bury Mrs Bell after the error was discovered.
In his report, conducted and published on the Durham diocesan website last month, Archdeacon Cooper concludes that both “insufficient process” and “poor record keeping” by the then incumbent, the Revd Martin Vaizey (since deceased), had led to the headstone’s being placed on the wrong grave. A burglary in the 1970s involving the burning of church documents, as well as changes in personnel and in the management of the graveyard, contributed to the error and its not being discovered and corrected for so long.
A grave marker is generally placed on the grave at the time of burial to identify it, for when the gravestone is ready to be installed. This did not happen, Archdeacon Cooper writes. Someone from the church should also have attended the placing of the stone by the stonemason, which should have been cross-referenced with the grave records and grave marker; but, again, this did not happen.
Mr Vaizey’s record-keeping “did not meet best practice”, and the notebook of burials kept by the former churchwarden was lost after her death, which “added to the confusion”, he said. After the closure of the churchyard and its transfer to the care of Durham County Council, it became “overgrown”. “The whole aspect of the graveyard changes year by year,” Archdeacon Cooper said.
He writes in conclusion: “All of the above has led to the position in which the Bell family and others found themselves in July 2022. The term ‘a perfect storm’ is used all too often in modern parlance; however on this occasion it seems particularly apt.”
Archdeacon Cooper begins his report by praising the patience and graciousness of the family, as well as the efforts of the gravedigger, John Davies, in toiling to help solve the case. He has praise, too, for the present incumbent, Canon Jane Grieve, for supporting the family; and for Grahame Morris MP for campaigning on their behalf, including questioning the Second Church Estates Commissioner, which elicited an apology (News, 16 September).
He ends with recommendations, including that the parish rationalise and update its records, and lobby the council to bring the graveyard back to a “manageable state”. The diocese, he says, should offer teaching on the legalities and practicalities of graveyards and record-keeping, including the need for electronic records and photographs. It should also ensure that each parish has a written protocol on the placing of gravestones.