Who to contact for advice
Before any work within a graveyard is undertaken seek appropriate professional advice (go to contacts pages). A brief introduction to the work of some of the main agencies and organisations involved with graveyard conservation is set out in the 2001 Graveyard Conference Abstracts (get download [1.4MB]). Professional advice may be acquired from:
- An archaeologist, historian or other appropriate person to prepare a conservation plan.
- A conservation architect to survey and prepare conservation proposals for any buildings within the burial ground;
- A conservator or stonemason (depending on the nature of the work) for resiting, resetting or repair of gravestones.
- An archaeologist where any ground disturbance is planned.
- Specialists to advise on possible disruption to plant and animal life in the graveyard.
- Historic Scotland and the local authority to check the requirements for necessary permissions on protected monuments (get download [40K]).
Funding
Ensure that sufficient funds are available to complete any work proposed. Do not start work that cannot be completed within the planned budget. Historic Scotland, the Scottish Civic Trust and the Council for Scottish Archaeology have produced a booklet on Sources of Financial Assistance for the Conservation of Scotland's Historic Graveyards (get download [859K]). Historic Scotland also provide grants for graveyards (get download [32K]).
Page last updated August 2006