Cemetery 'vandalised' by workmen

A row has started after people visiting a Derbyshire cemetery found many headstones had been laid flat.

People living in Holloway, near Matlock in Derbyshire, say the parish council has desecrated the site by taking down 40 headstones.

Dethick, Lea and Holloway Parish Council said a large number of the memorials failed new safety standards and had to be dealt with immediately.

Relatives have complained the move was tantamount to vandalism.

Distress 'regretted'

Gordon Thorpe, whose wife is buried in the cemetery, said it was a great shock to see the headstone laid flat.

He said: "Just to come up and find the headstone pushed over, just as though it had been vandalised, was terrible.

"The whole exercise has cost the parish council - on our rates - £3,000, so it's as though we had paid for our cemetery to be vandalised."

There was a stand-off at the site on Monday between people whose relatives are buried there and contractors, whose job it was to make the gravestones safe.

In a statement, the council said: "Whilst some of these headstones may not appear to have been unsafe - although some could be moved by a small push - the actual test uses equipment which is set to the new standard to which all headstones should now be designed."

It added: "Whilst the Parish Council regrets any distress that the operation may have caused, the safety of visitors to the cemetery is, of course, its primary concern."