Ashes to ashes

A GREEN revolution in the way in which we dispose of our loved ones’ bodies is gaining popularity. Since the first woodland burial ground opened in Carlisle in the Nineties, more than 220 have been set up across the UK and many more are in the pipeline.

In the North-East there are only two, a farmer’s field, near Newcastle, and a wooded extension to a graveyard in Hexham, Northumberland.

But there are plans to open a woodland burial site next to the South Road crematorium on the outskirts of Durham City.

Professor Douglas Davies, of Durham University’s Department of Theology and Religion, is fascinated by this growing interest in what has been alternatively described as ecoburial, green burial and natural burial.

Most of all, Prof Davies wants to find out what motivates people to bury their loved ones in the corner of a field, rather than a conventional graveyard.

He is working on a book about the growth of woodland burials and recently commissioned a 30-minute film about the practice, called Earth to Earth: Woodland Burial and The Church of England. The film had a public screening recently at Durham University’s Queen’s campus, in Stockton.

Made by former Durham anthropology student Sarah Thomas, it tells the story of The Arbory Trust woodland burial site at Barton Glebe, in Cambridgeshire.

Since it opened a decade ago, more than 450 bodies have been interred in biodegradable wood or cardboard coffins, at more than £800 per plot. Most are marked by a wooden plaque, placed flat on the ground.

During summer, the burial site is at its most attractive, filled with flowers, birds and insects – but very few trees so far.

The film features interviews with relatives of people buried at Barton Glebe and with people who have bought a plot for themselves.

One elderly lady says the site is not upsetting in the way a conventional graveyard can be.

“It’s like a normal garden where people chat or picnic, or like a garden centre to walk around and enjoy,” she says.

Another, middle-aged woman says: “The atmosphere is so wonderful. I want to end my days there. This is the future, isn’t it?”

Another woman who has bought a plot explains how she wants to be buried in a cardboard coffin lined with feathers from parrots and other exotic birds she has rescued.

The daughter of a “passionate gardener”, who is interred at Barton Glebe, says being in such surroundings is where he belongs. “You still sense there is something here. When I come I have a feeling of peace. He is near to me,” she says.

Prof Davies, who is director of the Centre for Death and Life Studies, has been studying the Arbory Trust site for three years. He is intrigued about what motivates people to want a woodland burial.

“There is a lot of talk about giving something back, keeping things simple and avoiding fuss, but what does all this mean,” he says.

“Unlike cemeteries, they are imagining their after-life in relation to a place. It shows the power of the human imagination. They are imagining peace, having a good view when you are dead. They talk about being there for future generations.”

One surprising factor at Barton Glebe is that trees are not seen as important – although a site in Hexham, Northumberland, has a tree is planted on each grave.

Prof Davies says the sense of people making a choice seems important.

“Controlling the funeral and the identity after death is important.” Poetry, music and even a party atmosphere are all important during some funeral services.

And while the site is on consecrated ground, non-believers are welcome, as long as the service remains dignified.

Prof Davies remembers one comment made by a relative at Barton Glebe.

“One woman was delighted to see that her husband’s grave was covered in ox eye daisies and said he would have been thrilled to think he was literally pushing up the daisies.”.

People also say they want to bury their loved ones in a place of “beauty and relaxation”.

DESPITE cremation being the norm for most of us, Prof Davies detects a rebellion against this form of disposal – as well as what he describes as the “serried ranks” of the municipal graveyard, and he sees the growth of the woodland burial movement as a remarkable development.

There has been a dramatic change in the way in which we dispose of our dead over the past 150 years. Cremation was pioneered by the upper-middle classes in the late 19th Century, using the slogan “Save the land for the living”.

Cremation gradually caught on with the rest of the population and, compared with 1964 when 50 per cent of bodies were cremated in the UK, a recent survey showed that 72 per cent of bodies are incinerated at a crematorium.

Prof Davies says there is a definite move away from cremation, partly on ecological grounds, but it is not yet clear whether woodland burials will catch on in the same way.

The Durham academic says one of the issues that needs to be resolved is the protection of non-consecrated woodland burial sites.

While consecrated sites such as Barton Glebe are protected, what happens if a sympathetic farmer dies and his heirs want to sell the land to housing developers?

Clearly, moving away from conventional burial practices may not be as simple as it seems.