Church authorities in Belfast have moved to quash rumours that the city’s main Catholic cemetery at Milltown is selling as new, grave plots that already have human remains buried in them.
Fr Martin Graham, who looks after Milltown for the diocese of Down and Connor, said that records show there have been “no previous burials” in a section of land at the cemetery which has become the subject of the rumours.
But a public meeting heard that a geophysical investigation carried out found indications that graves may exist on a site that has been laid out to be sold as new plots.
CiNews has also spoken to a woman who demanded a refund on her grave after she discovered there could be human remains buried on the site in which she purchased a plot.
CiNews has also spoken to a woman who demanded a refund on her grave after she discovered there could be human remains buried on the site in which she purchased a plot.
The controversy surrounds a site at the back of the cemetery close to a car park that has recently been laid out in grave-size sections.
The survey of the site showed the ground had been disturbed and there were a number of “anomalies” and concluded, “The radar data is of the nature and size that is expected to be generated by a grave.”
Almost all of the disturbed land is of similar shape and size and lies at an east to west angle, as do the graves in that area of the cemetery.
Meanwhile, a pensioner from North Belfast, Veronica Ewing, has criticised the cemetery’s policy of not allocating graves purchased until the person for whom they are bought has died.
Ms Ewing said she was horrified when she spent £3,000 for a grave and was later told the plot would not be allocated until she was dead, and demanded a refund.
Fr Graham conceded that an excavation of the land that was investigated is now inevitable.
Fr Graham conceded that an excavation of the land that was investigated is now inevitable.
“There are no burials taking place on this land yet and we want to get this issue sorted because so many people are seeking closure,” he said. “An excavation will be the only way to get definitive proof and we are willing to do that, and until an excavation is done, we won’t touch it,” Fr Graham pledged.
And he defended the policy of not allocating graves to anyone prior to death.
“When you pre-buy a grave, you are never given a plot, you’re given a right of burial, you’re never shown the plot in advance because you get the next one available after death,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Fr Graham is embroiled in another controversy as Milltown Cemetery is taking a North Belfast woman, whose mother died last year, to court because she is refusing to pay a maintenance fee to the cemetery.
Ms Geraldine Flood has been asked to appear before the small claims court next month as part of an ongoing dispute over the bill for opening the grave for her mother, who died last year but bought a grave more than thirty years ago.
Ms Flood disputed a £425 to have the grave opened and “administration fees” when she found out this did not cover grave-digging fees that were billed separately by the undertakers.
She contended that the fee should not be charged because the grave was already owned by her mother.
The cemetery, which recently reduced the fee to £150 per grave, reduced Ms Flood’s bill to £200 and she has now received a letter demanding payment of that amount to the small claims court.
Belfast funeral director Brendan Brown backed Ms Flood, saying £425 was “just too much money to be asking people, especially at such a bad time.”
A spokesman for Milltown Cemetery confirmed a case was being brought to the small claims court but added, “Since this is a matter now in the courts and therefore sub-judice it is inadvisable to make any further comment at this time.”
A spokesman for Milltown Cemetery confirmed a case was being brought to the small claims court but added, “Since this is a matter now in the courts and therefore sub-judice it is inadvisable to make any further comment at this time.”