Grave concern

Before commenting on the letter from Andrew HN Gray (20 February), I draw attention to a report entitled Managing the safety of Burial Ground Memorials (UK Ministry of Justice, 2009) which indicated that “over the last 30 years, eight people in the UK have been killed when a memorial fell upon them”.

Although the responsibility for the safety of a headstone remains with the lair holder or their descendants, the majority of cemeteries in Scotland are under the management of the councils and, being responsible for the safety of their own staff (grass cutting etc) and the public, they took action to eliminate the safety risks arising from unstable graveyard monuments.

Turning to the specific points raised by Mr Gray, councils do not just lift and lay headstones on a whim.

First they test each stone, repeating this every five years or so, by the use of a “topple meter” which applies a specific force (350 Newtons; circa 35kg) to the headstone in question and, if any movement is outwith the permitted tolerances, it is then deemed unsafe and is lifted and laid with the inscription still visible.

As for Mr Gray being refused permission to rebuild neighbouring headstones – I must admit I am at a loss to understand why that would have happened as these headstones do not belong to the council but to the descendants of the deceased and I would not have imagined, were they even contactable, that they would have objected. As for “who pays” for the rebuilding of these monuments, I think it is a far better idea to have these miscreants providing their labour free for this task rather than have them sent to prison at a cost to us of around £45,000 a year.

I first raised this idea with every council in Scotland some three years ago, but it was only the officials in the City of Edinburgh who pursued this and undertook a pilot project which is now being mirrored by City of Aberdeen, Midlothian, East Lothian and Scottish Borders.

So hopefully, with the passage of time – likely 20 years or more – all Scottish graveyards, including that in Morningside, will be like the section in Liberton Cemetery and have all the stones upright.

Alan McKinney

Beauchamp Road

Edinburgh