General cemetery information and advice
Cemetery fees and charges
Pay or purchase online
Payment can be made online for grave rights, interment fees, memorial plaques, hire of cemetery chapels and family history searches here.
Alternatively, please contact the Cemeteries Office on 01524 582635 and we will process your payment by telephone. The card holder must be able to provide permission for the payment to be processed.
We are unable to take payment by cash or cheque, and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Interments
All intended interments, including the scattering of ashes, must be arranged through the Cemeteries Office.
It is a legal obligation to register all interments that take place within our grounds. This may be arranged directly with our office or through the services of a funeral director.
Interments can take place Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding bank holidays and subject to availability.
A list of local Funeral Directors can be found here (PDF, 64KB).
Obtaining the rights to a burial or cremated remains plot
Grave spaces or Gardens of Remembrance plots may be reserved in your name in advance of an interment. Reserving an interment plot will provide you with peace of mind, knowing that a space is available for when needed.
Lawned grave spaces, Gardens of Remembrance, and Woodland grave plots are currently available. If there is availability, neighbouring plots may also be reserved to accomodate numerous interments.
In order to reserve a plot, please contact the Cemeteries Office. We can then advise you on our availability, select a plot, and provide you with the necessary documentation.
For more information on our current prices, please refer to our Cemetery Fees and Charges list.
Grounds maintenance
Grass cutting, hedgerows and fencing, trees, path ways, and bins are maintained by Lancaster City Council.
Council wide policy incorporates a Grassland Management Strategy which covers the entire district, our cemeteries included. This details the method and frequency of grass cutting within the area. More information on this can be found here.
To report or discuss any grounds maintenance issues within our cemeteries, please contact the Cemeteries Office directly.
Wildlife and heritage walks
We have produced two leaflets for walking trails.
The Torrisholme Cemetery Heritage Walk leaflet highlights points of interest and biodiversity within the Cemetery.
With the assistance of Friends of Poulton Cemeteries, we have also compiled Poulton Cemeteries Heritage Trail leaflet, which covers Morecambe Cemetery and the neighbouring closed churchyard.
These are available at Customer Service Centres at Lancaster and Morecambe Town Halls, Visitor Information Centres in both Lancaster and Morecambe, and on request by contacting the Cemeteries Office.
Lancaster Civic Society currently offer guided walks of Lancaster Cemetery (Quernmore Road) only. These tours are approved for permission from our office, but should you have any family history or burial enquiries, please contact the Cemeteries Office instead who will be happy to provide you with information directly from the official records.
Please note that no other guided walks are currently permitted within our working cemeteries so as to respect those visiting graves.
Biodiversity
Parts of our cemeteries have been designated as wildflower areas or meadows. This has been implemented mainly to improve food and shelter sources for wildlife, but also to improve the aesthetic of the cemetery. Lancaster Cemetery has some healthy sections of wildflower, and there is a wildflower meadow located at Torrisholme Cemetery.
Lancaster Cemetery is also particularly attractive to wildlife - deer, squirrels, owls, bats, and grass snakes have been sighted within the grounds.
Our cemeteries are rich in wildlife and we encourage those visiting our grounds to report any interesting species that they may see on their visits.
The Cemeteries Office have created two survey forms for those wishing to observe and record any wildlife sightings they make within our cemeteries. These forms can be found here: Wildlife Survey Form (PUB, 174KB), Bird Survey Form (PUB, 172KB)
Family History and Grave Searches
Our office would be pleased to assist you to locate a grave within one of our cemeteries. We require the full name of the deceased, and date of death in order to locate a burial record and provide you with a grave location.
Basic searches are not chargeable, however complicated or lengthy searches will be subject to an administrative fee of £49 per hour.
Please contact our office if you would like assistance.
Feedback
The Cemeteries Office are continually striving to improve our services-both as an efficient and professional interment facility and in managing our green spaces. In order to provide our cemetery users with the service they expect, we welcome your feedback of your experience within our cemeteries or our service.
Comments regarding any of our cemeteries may be reported via email, post, telephone to our office.
Cemetery regulations
Our cemetery rules and regulations can be found here (PDF, 357KB).
Dogs within our cemeteries
Dog control orders are in place throughout all of Lancaster City Council cemeteries - these grounds are not designated dog walking areas. Dogs are permitted in our cemeteries, however they must be kept on a lead at all times, which is a by-law. There are no areas within any of our cemeteries where dogs are permitted off lead.
Please ensure that dogs remain on footpaths and highways, and not on the grassed areas which are burial grounds.
Dog fouling must be disposed of immediately - there are waste bins in all of our cemeteries. When out with your dog, you should always be prepared to clean up after it. Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, it is an offence not to clean up after a dog has defecated on public land. A person may be issued with an £80 fixed penalty fine if they do not clean up, or alternatively may be prosecuted through the magistrates court, where the maximum fine is £1000.
We have installed a dispenser at Torrisholme Cemetery in order to supply those walking their dogs on site with waste bags to dispose of dog fouling appropriately.
If you are aware of offenders causing a particular problem in your neighbourhood you can contact the dog warden service, who will investigate and take appropriate action. You can also report dog fouling on the Lancaster City Council website.
Horses
Under no circumstances are horses permitted in any of our cemeteries for leisure visits. It is important to remember that all of our sites are working burial grounds and we must respect those attending funerals or visiting graves. Horses may be used during a funeral procession if so arranged with our office.
Vehicles
- Please refrain from driving on grassed areas-vehicles must remain on designated pathways and should not be driven at excessive speeds.
- Please be aware that grassed areas may infact be grave spaces, despite there being no memorial in place. This will avoid any distress to families visiting graves, and prevent potential damage to memorials or turf.
- Vehicles must not park across pathways which could cause disruption or block other cemetery users or funeral processions.
- Access to our cemeteries by vehicle is restricted overnight, however pedestrian access is still in place.
Contravening any of these by-laws will result in on the spot fines and potentially further prosecution.
These regulations are in place so that those visiting graves within the cemetery can do so in a quiet, clean, and respectful environment. Our aim is to provide a peaceful, safe and attractive site for visitors. It should be a place of quiet reflection where the bereaved may visit graves, or where visitors may enjoy the peaceful environment and wildlife.
Events
As we manage burial grounds, we must be sensitive to the nature of visits to our sites and therefore unauthorised events, activities, interments, classes, commercial or community gatherings, or any other events, are not permitted without permission from the Cemeteries Office. We welcome appropriate events on site but they must be authorised and arranged in conjunction with our office, and will take place outside of funeral hours and with cemetery staff present.
Please be respectful to those visiting graves, and be mindful of those grieving families who attend the funerals of their loved ones.
The Cemeteries Office may ask you to leave the grounds if deemed necessary.
Visitors are welcome in Lancaster City Council Cemeteries. All are asked to respect the burial sites of those who rest within our cemeteries and to have careful regard for all graves and memorials.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Balloons and Chinese lanterns
Due to our commitment to biodiversity, we politely request that balloons, chinese lanterns or anything similar are not placed or released within our cemeteries.
Items such as this are proven to cause damage to wildlife, and litter the local area.
We appreciate that you may wish to mark the interment of a loved one or the anniversary of a significant date, so please contact our office for advice on acceptable alternatives.
Butterfly and dove release
The Cemeteries Office welcome personalised funeral services, and will assist wherever possible. However, we cannot permit the release of butterflies within any of our sites due to the fact that non-native species may be grounded and will not survive. Release of non-native species contravenes the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Even butterflies native to the UK can cause a spread in disease if released.
Dove release may be permitted providing that you employ the services of a reputable and registered owner. Only trained homing pigeons should be released as they have the ability to navigate back to their loft. The time of day and weather conditions would also need to be considered by the owner, in order to prevent the pigeons from becoming disorientated. The RSPCA do not oppose the release of birds providing that the correct species is used and that there are no welfare issues.
Last updated: 10 April 2024