Memorial Headstones - help, where do I start?

Kaybo

Hello all,

I'm trying to organise a memorial headstone for my father's grave. I've figured its probably cheaper to skip the funeral director and deal directly with a stone mason. However there are so many things to consider e.g. type of stone, lettering, style etc. I have no idea where to start and even though I want something nice and meaningful, I really don't want to get ripped off.

I've had a browse on line but a lot of the stone mason websites don't put any prices up.

Can anyone help? Roughly what price should I be paying for a basic headstone with about 35 words? My mum likes a granite called polished star galaxy - is this expensive?

Thanks!

Pollycat

Hi
The funeral director gave us a brochure from the stone mason but that was the extent of his involvement, we dealt directly with them.

The brochure had lots of different designs, all with prices.

We paid about £1500 for a headstone and plinth.

It's quite a fancy one with a number of things on it that Dad loved.
In fact, we picked one design from one headstone for the left hand side and a different design from another headstone for the right hand side.
We took ages over the wording, kept changing it round and all the close family had a say in what was eventually engraved.

Are there any stone masons with showrooms close to you?

Also, in the cemetary there are specimen headstones that tell you where you can get them from.
That sounds a bit !!!!!ish really, but may be worth a try.

Someone told me that our local council were 'getting tough' about what types of headstones you could have so maybe worth checking that out.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

EDIT:
for some bizarre reason, MSE has decided to censor g h o u l i s h

hardpressed

Some Churches have restriction on what colour stone you can have and some are fussy about wording. A local stonemason would know the rules for the Churches and cemetaries in their area.

littlemissbossy

Hello

We arranged one for my father in law earlier this year, we chose one at the cheaper end of the price range, it cost £760.00 and it was really nice, we were very pleased and it didn't look "cheap" at all.

thepenniescount

memorialgroup.co.uk can give you an online quote. You can chose the colour and other bits like flower containers. You can call them up for further queries. They explained other fees that have to go to the local authority for a permit to put it in the cemetery. Like someone else said there are rules in different parts of the cemetery even.

Hope that helps.

thepenniescount

I've got an 01 number if you want to call them. Let me know I'll dig it out.

Kaybo

Hi all, thanks for your posts.

I've been able to get hold of one stonemason in the area and he has quoted me £600-800 which I think I'll probably go with. But I'll check out the memorialgroup website as well and try to get some other quotes.

P.S. The guy I spoke with said that they sort out all the paperwork with the council which is great.

suki1964

One way of finding a good stonemason - is walk around the local graveyards and take note of the names on the backs/sides of any well kept stones you like the look off

We just got a pot for flowers to add to an existing grave, cost of pot and liner £80 and £1 a letter for the engraving

van22663

I have just ordered my Dads headstone. He has been cremated so the maximum height permitted is 2 feet. The plot is for my Mum & brother also, so I have had to have a headstone big enough to leave space for their names to be added. Went to a local stone mason on recommendation, have had black headstone with gold lettering. A beautiful stained glass window & crucifix engraved on top corner, plus writing on the bottom of the headstone. £828.00 including vat & fitting. The funeral directors wanted alot more & other stone masons wanted more for gold letters.
Good luck in sorting something out for your Dad.