Families urged to contact parish council over unsafe headstones

Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council, which acts as the Burial Authority for Hengoed Cemetery, is appealing for relatives or grave owners connected to two graves to get in touch urgently.

The council is seeking contact from the families of John and Dora Turner, who are buried in Grave 217, and Gwyllym and Gweneth Ivy Davies, who are buried in Grave 248, after both headstones were classed as unsafe.

Sue Crow, parish councillor, said: “We are asking the relatives of John and Dora Turner and Gwyllym and Gweneth Ivy Davies to get in touch with us as soon as possible.

“The headstones on both of these graves have been identified as unsafe, and the Parish Council will be making arrangements for them to be laid flat if we have not been able to make alternative arrangements with their families by the end of this month.”

The council said it has a responsibility for the health and safety of visitors to Hengoed Cemetery and warned that unstable headstones can pose a serious risk.

“Unsafe or unstable headstones can cause serious injury or even death – there was a very sad case of a child being killed by a falling headstone in Lancashire as recently as 2025,” Councillor Crow added.

The council has a programme of headstone safety testing to help manage risks to staff and visitors. Headstones identified as unsafe are temporarily made safe, with families or grave owners responsible for arranging repairs within 18 months.

In these two cases, the headstones have not been repaired within the required timeframe.

“As we had no current contact details on file for these two families, we placed signs on the graves in August 2024 asking for family members to contact us,” Councillor Crow said.

“We also included details in editions of the Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Roundabout magazine.”

Relatives of John and Dora Turner or Gwyllym and Gweneth Ivy Davies are asked to contact Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council on 01691 886502 or by emailing [email protected].