About Dorchester's cemeteries

The Town Council is responsible for the three cemeteries in the town, at Fordington, Weymouth Avenue and Poundbury Road.

Finding a grave:  You can now locate a grave in the Council's Poundbury and Weymouth Avenue Cemeteries through our easy to use  Cemetery Searcher system.  We believe the Searcher is over 99% accurate, but the data we use is up to 160 years old - if you spot a problem with the system or have any general questions about the Cemeteries service please contact Julie Hollings on  01305 819035  or at j.hollings@dorchester-tc.gov.uk.

Memorial Safety Testing

Dorchester Town Council carries out safety tests on memorial to keep cemeteries in Dorchester safe in accordance with its  agreed policy.

The work is essential to make sure cemeteries to continue to be a safe place for the people who visit. Some memorials will need to be carefully staked for a short period of time for support until a more secure method of displaying them is found, and others may need to be laid down in the grave space.

We recognise that this is a very emotive issue, but we have a duty to make sure everyone is safe when they visit our cemeteries. We will make every effort to contact the owners of memorials that are found to be unsafe and hope the public will give their support to the tests.

For any person considering purchasing a memorial, Dorchester Town Council would advise that it is the owner or purchaser of the memorial that is liable for its maintenance. Therefore, when considering the maintenance of a memorial over a long period of time, insurance packages can be beneficial.