11:10am Wednesday 8th September 2010
By David Watkinson
A GREAT-grandson has accused the council of 'vandalism' after workers toppled his ancestor's headstone in a health and safety check.
Laurence Yates said he was left horrified after checking on Henry Ainsworth’s grave.
Mr Yates said that he has now had to spend £600 refurbishing the plot in Darwen Old Cemetery.
Mr Ainsworth was one of the founders of the Thwaites Theatre in Blackburn.
Officials from Blackburn with Darwen Council wrote to Mr Yates to explain that the grave ‘did not meet requirements’ of safety in graveyards.
But Mr Yates said: “Earlier this year I went to the grave because I was told that it could have been included in a cultural tour of the town.
“I wanted to make sure that the grave looked smart and I was horrified that it had been flattened.
“It was such a big stone that it must have taken a huge effort to move it.
“It is a disgrace what they have done and completely ridiculous as well.
“I was going to make a donation in my great grandfather’s name to the theatre this year but I have had to spend the money on refurbishing the gravestone insted. It was just so uneccessary.
Mr Yates, 61, of Hawkshaw Avenue, Darwen, has now completed the repairs on the stone.
But he hit out at the continued ‘topple testing’ taking place throughout the area for the past three years.
He said: “If you go round the cememtery it looks like World War Three. It is such a mess because so many headstones have been pushed over.”
Under the controversial ‘topple testing’ procedure, ordered by the government amid fears of dangerously unstable gravestones, pressure of 35kg is applied to each stone. If they move under the force the stones are branded “unsafe”.
Council bosses have previously said gravestones are the responsibility of family. If they cannot trace relatives to carry out repairs, the headstones are laid flat.
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