Burial of Ashes at St. Mary's

St Mary's is a beautiful and ancient church which is a wonderful place to remember those we love but see no longer. The burial of ashes at St. Mary's is a scenic location to have a place to remember your love one. 

If you would like to enquire about having a burial of ashes here then please to contact Revd Tom to find out more: revtomcook@stmaryscoventry.org



At St. Mary's we have what is known as a ABCR (Area for the Burial of Cremated Remains). There are certain regulations that apply to ABCR's and the details that affect what can happen in an ABCR can be found on this page. Our Parish Churchyard Policy has been written in line with the Diocese of Coventry Churchyard Regulations.  The aim of the policy and practices within it is to, 'create fairness, equality and consistency of treatment for all.' - Churchyard Regulations. 

If you wish for your loved ones cremated remains to be buried in one of St. Mary's ABCR's also known locally as Memorial Gardens then please speak with Revd Tom about arrangements. 

You can find a more detailed descriptions of the terms of interment further down this page but for now here are the key points and prices for the burial of cremated remains. 

The cost of burial of ashes

The price of burial of ashes is dictated by the Church of England and is adjusted annually. The details below are accurate until December 31st 2023. 

The cost of the burial of ashes is £182 with £47 going to the diocese and £135 going to the local parish. 

The service also requires the services of our Verger to prepare the plot and assist on the day at the cost of £28

This brings the cost of burial to £210 

The reciprocal use of the land in a Memorial Gardens

The Memorial Gardens at St. Mary's are a wonderful place to remember your loved ones. We want to ensure that future generations have a space to remember their loved ones. To ensure that this can happen there is a temporary nature to the plots in a memorial garden. We rotate the burial of ashes around three plots in St. Mary's allowing for the maximum amount of time before adding re-using the plot. Because of this it is likely that the plot will remain undisturbed for many years. 

The space in which they are buried are not an exclusive plot for all time. The nature of the Memorial Garden is that as the area becomes full we return to the beginning area of garden and continue to inter ashes. At St. Mary's we have a number of site that are used as Memorial Gardens and once a memorial garden has become full we move to a different Memorial Garden before returning to inter new remains previous Memorial Gardens. This enables us to not return to previous Memorial Gardens for a long period of time. Because of the temporary nature of plots within the Memorial Gardens the monuments are also deemed as temporary as well. More details of monuments are detailed below. 

Monuments within Memorial Gardens

'Monuments' is a term that covers anything that someone might want to add to a plot to mark and remember their loved one. We have a couple of types of monuments that the parish priest is allowed to authorise. No item may be added to a plot without the written permission of the parish priest. 

At St. Mary's we allow the placement of a small wooden cross or of a small vase or a marker on a stake. 

The permission for a small wooden cross cost £52 with £16 going to the diocese and £36 to the parish.

A small vase or marker on a stake costs £84 with £16 going to the diocese and £68 to the parish. 

 We want to help all people feel like they are able to remember their loved ones in an appropriate manner. Please consult with the parish priest before adding anything to avoid the unfortunate situaion of having to have items removed. Any 'unlawful introduction of memorials of any kind into a churchyard is likely to be required by the chancellor to remove it and ordered to meet the cost of doing so.' - Churchyard Regulations