Burial Services

East Grinstead Town Council is the burial authority for the parish of East Grinstead, and two public cemeteries are situated within its area of responsibility. The original cemetery located at West Hill, known as Queens’ Road cemetery was opened in 1869, and remained the main cemetery for the town until the new cemetery at Mount Noddy started to accept burials in 1916. Over the following 30 years Mount Noddy assumed a greater role, and with the eventual closure for new earthen graves at Queens’ Road in the 1960’s, Mount Noddy became the main cemetery for East Grinstead.

Mount Noddy cemetery is located at Blackwell Road, East Grinstead, RH19 3HP. It comprises 9 acres of burial grounds, bordered by mature trees, and shrubs. Access to graves is excellent, with well laid out pathways, and conveniently situated taps for watering. The cemetery was originally organised in order that graves plots would be designated by denomination, and this has continued to this day with separate areas for Church of England, Catholic, and Non-conformist burials. In addition an area of the cemetery is set aside for the burial of children, as well as a Garden of Remembrance for cremated remains. Military graves are in evidence discernable by their distinctive commonwealth War Grave headstones, and are located in a small separate section. More recently the cemetery has seen the dedication of a Memorial for the Unborn, evidenced by a unique sculpture erected in the autumn of 2001.

Mount Noddy cemetery is maintained by a dedicated staff of town council employees, who are responsible for the digging of graves in preparation for burials, grass cutting, and maintaining the burial grounds, as well the surroundings to the cemetery. In addition they are responsible for grass cutting in St. Swithun’s churchyard.

Table of Fees

Please see the Table of Fees link in the sidebar for fee information.

In determining whether fees chargeable are at the Residential or Non-Residential the following will apply:

  1. Purchase of grave space and/or interment.
    The last permanent address of the deceased will be used. In cases where long Residents of East Grinstead have been accommodated in residential care/nursing Homes outside the Town Council’s area or who have moved away for other Reasons, then so long as the deceased has had a permanent address in East Grinstead within the year immediately prior to date of death and whose name Appears on the Town Council’s Electoral Register, then the Residential scale apply.
  2. All other charges will be applied according to the Residential qualification of applicant as at the date when payment is made to the Town Council.

Further Information

To maintain the required level of cemetery maintenance and tidiness visitors are required to observe the following guidelines:

Opening Times

From 8.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. or sunset whichever is the earlier.

Access

The main gate is open during opening hours. There are three other gates in the fence, which borders the public footpath, which leads from the Mount Noddy Recreation Area to Blackwell Farm Road, and pedestrian access is normally restricted to the centre gate.

Vehicular access is for visitors to the Cemetery only. Vehicular access to Section 5C is via the upper or lower gates, which are normally kept locked and will be opened on request. Drivers should use the tarmac roads and not park on the grass verges. It may be necessary, at times, to ask drivers to move their vehicles if they are restricting the access of a funeral cortège.

Rubbish

Litterbins are situated around the Cemetery and should be used to dispose of all rubbish. Cemetery staff remove wreaths and floral tributes from recent funerals, and at Christmas time, when they have deteriorated, unless specifically requested to be retained for a longer period.

Memorials and the Planting of Graves

Only headstones and NOT kerbs are permitted as memorials. The headstone may incorporate a vase or urn and vases or urns may also be placed on the grave space. PLANTING IN THE GROUND IS NOT PERMITTED. Under no circumstances, should glass containers, chippings and edging/fencing be used. These restrictions facilitate ease of maintenance and are Council policy. The Town Council reserves the right to remove all instances of unauthorised planting, kerbstones or other unauthorised fixtures without further reference to the owner of the grave. Wind chimes are strictly prohibited on environmental grounds.

Newly dug graves will be filled in and re-turfed when they have settled which is usually after a period of six to nine months after the date of burial. It is advisable that no memorial be placed on a new grave until it has settled and been re-turfed. Where subsequent subsidence occurs in the interests of Health & Safety cemetery staff may re-level and re-turf graves.

Responsibility for maintaining individual memorials generally remains primarily with those who erected them. Local authorities, acting as burial authorities, have general powers of management in relation to public cemeteries. This includes power to take any action necessary to remove a danger which arises because of the condition of a vault, tombstone or memorial. Burial authorities also have a duty of care under health and safety legislation and under the principles of occupier’s liability. More information is available at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03634/

For more information and FAQs on safety checks please see this page.

Watering

Watering cans are provided for your use and can be found at the taps. Please return cans to the taps as soon as you have finished watering. Please ensure that cans are left empty, particularly in very cold weather when they can freeze and split. Please also note that at times water supplies may be turned off to avoid freezing. When watering visitors are asked not to use pesticides/insecticides in the water.

General

Families with children and dogs are most welcome to visit the Cemetery. It is, however, important that children are kept under supervision as some of the memorials are loose and could be dangerous.

Dogs must be kept on a lead at all times and owners are required to clear up any of their dog’s mess and place it in the dog litter container provided.

If you are looking for a local funeral director please follow this link to an external guide.

Plan

A plan of the cemetery can be found here.

Enquiries

All enquiries, in the first instance, should be made to Sarah Jones (Cemeteries Officer) at the Town Council offices – see contact details.