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Advance Notice Of Memorial Testing – Dronfield Cemetery
Dronfield Town Council is responsible for the management of the Cemetery to ensure a safe environment for those visiting or working in the cemetery. Therefore, the council is in the process of carrying out comprehensive safety inspections on all headstones and memorials to ensure they are safe.
What is the council doing?
Dronfield Town Council has implemented a programme of testing the safety of all headstones in the cemetery every 5 years, starting approximately 7th April 2026. The results of these tests are recorded for future reference. In the cases of headstones considered to be dangerous, they will be laid down and a contact notice left for the plot owner on the headstone.
Why are headstones being inspected?
The Council has a duty to protect visitors to cemetery and staff working in the cemetery (including contractors) from the possible danger caused by unsafe memorials.
Who will be carrying out the inspections?
Safety inspections are carried out by a qualified outside contractor.
How will a headstone be tested?
Memorials less than 625mm in height are unlikely to cause injury if they fall and may therefore be excluded from detailed assessment or application of load.
Memorials not exceeding 1.5m in height (nominal shoulder height) shall be tested by hand, applying a firm but steady pressure in both directions.
Memorials exceeding 1.5m in height are deemed unsafe to apply a load to and shall be visually assessed by a competent person to assess whether the memorial poses a risk. If a risk is deemed present, the memorial will need to be assessed by a qualified structural engineer/stone mason.
What will happen to a headstone deemed unsafe after testing?
In most circumstances, for a regular size headstone that is deemed unstable and considered an imminent risk of failure - immediate steps will be taken to reduce the risk, which could comprise attaching of a warning sign, cordoning off the memorial, making safe or where required laying down of the memorial. After the memorial has been made safe and recorded, a before and after photograph will be taken.
What should I do if my headstone is found to be unstable?
As the owner of a memorial, you have a duty to ensure it is safe. You must contact a suitably qualified stonemason to arrange for it to be made safe.
Who do I contact if I need to have my headstone repaired?
You should contact a memorial mason who is registered with the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons to arrange for it to be repaired.
Will more inspections take place in the future?
Yes, the council has a duty to regularly check that headstones are safe and secure.
Thank you for your support and co-operation to ensure safety within the Cemetery.
Dronfield Town Council is responsible for the management of the Cemetery to ensure a safe environment for those visiting or working in the cemetery. Therefore, the council is in the process of carrying out comprehensive safety inspections on all headstones and memorials to ensure they are safe.
What is the council doing?
Dronfield Town Council has implemented a programme of testing the safety of all headstones in the cemetery every 5 years, starting approximately 7th April 2026. The results of these tests are recorded for future reference. In the cases of headstones considered to be dangerous, they will be laid down and a contact notice left for the plot owner on the headstone.
Why are headstones being inspected?
The Council has a duty to protect visitors to cemetery and staff working in the cemetery (including contractors) from the possible danger caused by unsafe memorials.
Who will be carrying out the inspections?
Safety inspections are carried out by a qualified outside contractor.
How will a headstone be tested?
Memorials less than 625mm in height are unlikely to cause injury if they fall and may therefore be excluded from detailed assessment or application of load.
Memorials not exceeding 1.5m in height (nominal shoulder height) shall be tested by hand, applying a firm but steady pressure in both directions.
Memorials exceeding 1.5m in height are deemed unsafe to apply a load to and shall be visually assessed by a competent person to assess whether the memorial poses a risk. If a risk is deemed present, the memorial will need to be assessed by a qualified structural engineer/stone mason.
What will happen to a headstone deemed unsafe after testing?
In most circumstances, for a regular size headstone that is deemed unstable and considered an imminent risk of failure - immediate steps will be taken to reduce the risk, which could comprise attaching of a warning sign, cordoning off the memorial, making safe or where required laying down of the memorial. After the memorial has been made safe and recorded, a before and after photograph will be taken.
What should I do if my headstone is found to be unstable?
As the owner of a memorial, you have a duty to ensure it is safe. You must contact a suitably qualified stonemason to arrange for it to be made safe.
Who do I contact if I need to have my headstone repaired?
You should contact a memorial mason who is registered with the British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons to arrange for it to be repaired.
Will more inspections take place in the future?
Yes, the council has a duty to regularly check that headstones are safe and secure.
Thank you for your support and co-operation to ensure safety within the Cemetery.
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Cllr Alex Dale has funded a defibrillator and cabinet for the Parish through his Members’ Community Leadership Fund this is located at The Horse and Jockey PH, Unstone.
A defibrillator gives a jolt of energy to the heart, which can help restore the heart’s rhythm, and get it beating normally again. This simple piece of equipment is easy to use and doesn’t require training, but it could make the difference between life and death – so it’s important to find and use a defibrillator in an emergency please call 999 for access to the locked cabinet. |
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- PUBLIC SPACE PROTECTION ORDER has come into force, if you are a dog owner find out what this means to you here.
- POLICE UPDATE -It is now possible for you to get in touch with the Police in a range of different ways, to report non-emergencies. If you don’t want to speak to someone on the phone, you can send us a message on social media, use our website, or speak to a call handler on Live Chat. This will then free up our call handlers to answer the phones to those that would prefer to physically speak to someone. Our team of helpful call handlers are here for the people of Derbyshire 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The links you can use to get in touch digitally are Facebook: Send a message to us on www.facebook.com/derbyshireconstabulary Twitter: Send a direct message to our contact centre via www.twitter.com/derpolcontact Website: Use our online forms and Live Chat by visiting www.derbyshire.police.uk Our website houses a number of online forms, where you can report a crime, road traffic incident, anti-social behaviour, apply for licenses and firearms certificates, as well as use ‘Your Area’, where residents can find out more about, and contact, their local Safer Neighbourhood Teams. If you can, please consider contacting us digitally, so our call handlers are free to speak to those that don’t have any access to the internet to do so. Please note, in the case of an emergency, you should always phone 999.I will also like to bring this to the attention of more vulnerable members of the community we have recently had some incidents across Unstone and Dronfield area about fraudulent phone calls pretending to be from the police and asking for bank details and requesting sums of money and also asking you to call 999 and giving them code words. I must stress that we DONT EVER ASK FOR ANY BANK RELATED INFORMATION OR ACCOUNT DETAILS.
- PEAK UPDATE - the latest updates are available on the Peak website: http://www.peakliaison.co.uk
- NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH. The local police are promoting the Neighbourhood Watch scheme, and are currently looking for people to set up neighbourhood watch schemes in the area , as the village only has one scheme running at the present time. Grants may be available to cover costs. Further details are available on:https://www.derbyshireneighbourhoodwatch.co.uk/
- THE MOBILE LIBRARY SERVICE - Sheffield Road Unstone
- DERBYSHIRE ALERT - Is a website/community network that is free to register on and allows partner agencies such as Neighbourhood Watch, Action Fraud, Fire and Rescue Service etc to send alerts out, regarding local crime information, appeals, updates to crimes, crime prevention advice etc to registered users. Members of the public can register to receive alerts, their contact details are recorded it allows the police to send alerts to specific areas and send appeals to specific groups such as residents with working cctv, residents with dash cams, dog walkers etc. It also gives the user the ability to feedback information to the police and information about specific areas. Please visit www.derbyshirealert.co.uk.for further info.
- CARE LINE BEFRIENDING SERVICE - (http://www.ageconcernchesterfield.org.uk/careline.php providing a free telephone befriending service to older people who are socially isolated or lonely, trained volunteers ring up to three times a week for a friendly chat or potentially arranging help if needed.
- VOLUNTEERS WANTED, do you have a spare few hours to help to return the Telephone Boxes within the Parish to their former glory? If so please contact the Clerk via the Contact Us page or Tel: 07341 850210.
- DERBYSHIRE CONNECT - Shopping Bus Service, for more information please click here
- SCAM ALERT - for news on the latest scams from DCC, please visit [email protected]
- DEFIBRILLATOR - Unstone Parish Council have installed a defibrillator machine at the Fred Hopkinson Memorial Hall on Crow Lane in Unstone, it is located next to the main entrance doors. In case of emergency contact 999 for the access code
- DEFIBRILLATOR - Unstone Parish Council have installed a defibrillator machine at The Horse and Jockey PH, Unstone, it is located next to the main entrance doors. In case of emergency contact 999 for access code.