Exning Parish Council in dispute with widow over headstone dimensions

Published: 05:00, 01 November 2021

| Updated: 16:35, 02 November 2021

The widow of an Exning man says she is at her wits end after a dispute with the parish council over the size of the headstone she wants to mark his grave in the village cemetery.

Christine Snell’s husband John, who suffered for many years from a rare genetic disease, died aged 71 in July 2020 after contracting sepsis while he was being treated in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, just 10 days short of what would have been the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary.

Mrs Snell and her two sons and two daughters are still awaiting an inquest into her husband’s’s death and, she says, the last thing she needs is the upset over the headstone.

Christine Snell, whose husband died last year and was buried in Exning cemetery.

Exning Parish Council, which owns and maintains the village’s new cemetery in Laceys Lane, has a list of regulations several pages long with information and instructions for people who wish to make it the final resting place of a relative.

The black granite headstone Mrs Snell and her family have chosen meets all the criteria apart from the width, which is just four inches wider than the maximum of two feet allowed by the council.

“The stone is not in any way garish or disrespectful to other families with graves there,” said Mrs Snell who lives in King George Avenue and visits the grave, on which she has laid containers of flowers and a wreath, several times a week.

Exning Parish Council has told Christine that there are very stringent rules and regulations regarding the size of headstone allowed.

“It would not interfere with the council’s mower and, anyway, the concrete bases under the headstones in the cemetery are all 30 inches wide.

“The council is totally intractable and I am at my wits end. I have met with the parish clerk and have attended a meeting of the council but they just will not budge, although I have pointed out to them that there is another grave in their cemetery which is a different colour stone but otherwise is exactly the same size and design as the one we want.

“We cannot understand why one family is allowed this headstone when ours, apparently, is not,” she said.

The Journal contacted Exning Parish Council to request a comment on this story but at the time of going to press no reply had been received.

Human Interest Newmarket Politics Suffolk Homepage Tina Murray