Sculpture of symbolic representations of death and mourning such as crosses, obelisks and broken columns, and figures such as angels and weeping women.

Mausolea are the grandest monuments. These small buildings dedicated to an individual or family to house the dead can be elaborately decorated inside if you can get access.Accidents, and very sadly a few fatalities in the 1990s, highlighted the need for these risk assessments. Since these initial assessments, the systems have been reviewed and revised, but some of the earlier risk management strategies led to many memorials deemed unsafe being dismantled and laid down. Once dismantled, the monuments and any component parts are vulnerable to damage. The starting point is the cemetery’s or graveyard’s own burial records and then using family history resources like census records and online family trees to look for descendants. Volunteers, especially family historians, can often help undertake research. Notices should be served on the owners via recorded delivery post and any returned ‘unknown’ letters filed. With gravestones, you are not likely going to be there at the very moment a stain starts to form. However, as soon as you notice a stain, it is best to take action right away.

Entire books have been published on cleaning stone and masonry. Historic Scotland has published individual books for each major kind of stone encountered. Be sure that you’re not releasing an invasive species into the wild, and that your cemetery is ok with this. The snails are not simply going to disappear after they have finished with your buffet of lichen.Dirty that is on the headstone itself can be removed with the right cleaning product. For natural stone, you use HG headstone cleaning spray for example. Whatever product you use, if you use it to clean the headstone for the first time, it is a good idea to try it out in an inconspicuous place first. You will need to seek out a professional service in your locale, but there are quite a few out there. Looking at a single company Beyond the Gravestone based in Connecticut, linked here, we can get an idea of some of the services we can expect. If you see a haze effect on the surface of the granite, don’t worry—it cleans off and isn’tpermanent. Once a year, you will need to clean, wax, and polish it. Again, we take non-ionic water and soap and a soft brush to clean it. Then we wait for it to dry and apply a wax to seal it, buffing the wax to get a nice shine. If you are having a hard time finding a brush because your local department store is sold out of soft-bristled-limestone-headstone-scrubbing-brushes, you can turn to the automotive cleaning section of the store. Car washing brushes are usually quite soft as they are meant not to scratch the surface paint and coatings on a car.