Why natural burial?
Why Choose a Natural Burial at Clayton Wood?
A natural burial is ideal for those looking for a more environmentally friendly method of burial, providing a green alternative to a traditional cemetery or graveyard. Natural burial requires all coffins, caskets and urns to be completely biodegradable to minimise the impact on the local eco-system. Graves are marked with wooden plaques rather than traditional headstones, to biodegrade naturally over time.
Sustainable methods are used in maintaining the natural burial ground with surroundings kept as natural as possible to encourage biodiversity. The land used at Clayton Wood natural burial ground will continue to benefit the local community, through its eventual use as new woodland within the South Downs National Park.
Why create a new woodland?
Woodlands and trees are essential to life and have numerous benefits for both wildlife and people.
- Provide shelter
- Absorb and store carbon
- Generate oxygen
- Provide fuel and food
- Rejuvenate and stabilise the soil
- Create habitats for wild flora and fauna
Some natural woodland burial sites choose to bury between mature trees and whilst this may look immediately appealing this could destroy existing delicate surface roots, affecting the long term health of the trees. Our aim at Clayton Wood burial ground is to create a new wood through the planting of native trees, thereby adding to the country’s tree numbers.
The native trees we plant provide an ideal habitat for a variety of wildlife, helping to sustain the surrounding environment.
