The idea of burying two bodies in one grave may seem taboo here in the US, but it has finally gained political approval in the UK where burial space is increasingly limited.
Harriet Harman, the minister responsible for cemeteries, told the Independent
“We have now got to make some decisions that have been put off and put off. They have been put off because people do not want to make the decision about whether you do what is described as ‘lift and deepen’.
“This is where you use space – I am phrasing this delicately – in a vertical as well as a horizontal way. It’s the big political taboo, isn’t it, and it has become quite complex with all the different cultural approaches to death.”
The process involves opening untended graves older than 75 years old, transferring their remains to a smaller container and burying it deeper, and then burying another coffin in its original space.