Photography in Brookwood Cemetery
All visitors are reminded that Brookwood Cemetery is a privately owned and managed burial ground, and it is a courtesy to seek permission to explore the grounds. Over the years this has rarely happened, and with the increasing use of the grounds as a "free" photographic resource, rather than a burial ground, Brookwood Park Ltd has introduced following procedures for any photography in the cemetery.
We do not permit any photographs to be taken in the cemetery unless you have a photographic permit issued by the Cemetery Office. These permits prohibit the posting of photographs on the internet. If you wish to do this you will need to apply for further permission from the Cemetery Office.
All requests for photography must be made in writing to the Cemetery Office and permits will be issued at our discretion. Our permit application form may be downloaded here.
The application may be posted, emailed or faxed to us along with the required proof of ID. There is a suggested donation of £10, payable to the Brookwood Cemetery Restoration Fund
We are making some photographs available for sale, with donations going to the Brookwood Cemetery Restoration Fund
We have been interested to read the discussion posted on Flikr about our restrictions on photography - see
http://www.flickr.com/groups/gtc/discuss/72157622720202497/We would like to clarify our reasons for having these restrictions in place:
1. Cemetery staff have to deal with complaints from families who are shocked to discover photographs of their family graves posted on the internet (and sometimes posted for sale).
2. It is bereaved families who have raised this as an issue with the cemetery management. We have a duty of care to those with loved ones buried at Brookwood.
3. Monies raised from permits is specifically paid into our Brookwood Cemetery Restoration Fund and used for restoration projects across the cemetery . This includes the cleaning of older memorials (which would otherwise be uncared for), although our most significant project to date has been the restoration of the lake in the Glades of Remembrance.
4. Despite our status as a Grade I Historic Park & Garden, Brookwood Cemetery currently receives no external funding support. This means any work taking place in the cemetery has to be paid for out of income we generate from running and maintaining the cemetery.
5. All visitors to the cemetery should remember that if they visited (say) Kew Gardens or another historic attraction, they would expect to pay an entrance fee. We could argue you are exploiting the cemetery as a free photographic resource.
6. It is a courtesy to ask permission to take photographs when entering private property. Most photographers don't bother and don't feel they have any obligation to do so (as is clear from the discussion on Flikr). On behalf of grave owners, we disagree.
7. The cemetery has had restrictions on photography since its opening in 1854. The change in recent years has been that we have made these restrictions more explicit, in response to complaints from grave owners at Brookwood.
Erkin Guney
Managing Director
Glades House, Cemetery Pales, Brookwood, Woking, Surrey
GU24 0BL
Tel: (01483) 472222
Fax: (01483) 472223
Email:
enquiries@brookwoodcemetery.com