Natural burial site for 2,000 graves coming to Thoulstone Park
The site just outside Chapmanslade has had permission granted
A wildflower meadow on a 70-acre estate in the west of Wiltshire is to become a natural burial site with up to 2,000 graves across one hectare.
The owners of Thoulstone Park, just outside Chapmanslade near Warminster, have received permission for the project from Wiltshire Council.
According to the owners, the natural burial area will offer “the greenest available option for dealing with human remains”, using unmarked graves recorded by GPS.
Located in the open countryside, the grazed meadow is considered “a peaceful, environmentally sensitive location for natural burials”.
The application stated: “Natural burial offers an eco-friendly alternative to the energy-intensive, carbon-emitting, air-polluting cremation process.
“This approach returns the carbon from the body, coffin, and lining directly to the earth, enhancing the carbon sequestration that naturally occurs in grassland meadows.”
The site will accommodate both full burials and ashes interments, and although families will be allowed to plant a native tree in memory of their relatives, scattering ashes will not be permitted to protect the grazing livestock and local flora.
Owners Mr and Mrs Hughes-Hallett have been undertaking a regeneration project on the land after it was abandoned for 10 years when Thoulstone Park Golf Club closed in 2002.