Pre-planning a funeral

You may pre-plan your own funeral. This means that when you die, those arranging your funeral will know your wishes. Some people never discuss death, and for those making arrangements it can be hard to make such important decisions at such a difficult time.

Another option may be to complete an advanced funeral arrangement form, which can be obtained from the Cemetery Office. Pre-planning a funeral may also help to alleviate expenses. Funeral directors and other organisations such as Help the Aged, are able to offer pre-plan funeral arrangement schemes.

Unfortunately, you cannot pre-purchase a grave within the London Borough of Richmond's cemeteries, and provision for the eventual cost of a grave should be made. As an alternative, a specific grave can be reserved. This option may be helpful if you would like a burial space in a specific cemetery or section.

Reserving a grave

You may wish to reserve a grave space. The reservation of any grave space is subject to availability.

The non-refundable fee to reserve a grave space is for a five year period. You may only reserve one grave space and it does not issue you with any rights to erect a memorial, place flowers or mark the grave space in any way. Each grave allows up to two full burials and subsequently eight cremated remains; Twickenham and Teddington cemeteries can offer up to four full burials, on request. The necessary cemetery fees are payable when the first burial is required. If there is a specific area of a cemetery in which you would like a grave, the cemetery office will attempt to locate one for you, on request. You can download the Grave Reservation form from here(pdf, 25KB).

Making a will

Please visit our Making a Will page which may guide you through the process of making a will, and to explain what may happen if you do not. There is also a leaflet available from the cemeteries office, produced by Cruse Bereavement Care, called "Taking Care of the Future". If you would like to receive this leaflet please contact:

East Sheen Cemetery,
Sheen Road,
Richmond,
TW10 5BJ
Telephone: 020 8876 4511
Fax: 020 8878 8118
Email: cemeteries@richmond.gov.uk.