Cemeteries and churchyards

The majority of active cemeteries in the Waverley area are managed by churches or by local town or parish councils. Please contact them for more information and to arrange a burial.

Shottermill Cemetery in Haslemere 

Shottermill Cemetery in Haslemere is Waverley Borough Council's only operational cemetery. This is a 2.2-acre site on the western side of the town and offers a range of burial options.

Contact us on 01483 523333 if you need to arrange a burial or if you want to search burial records.

Closed cemeteries

Waverley Borough Council is responsible for the management of nine closed cemeteries across the borough. A number of these are now important refuges for wildlife as they still contain unusual flower species which were once previously common in local meadows in the past.

Elstead (Thursley Road) closed cemetery, Bramley closed cemetery and the Churchyard of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Godalming, are managed to take account of the need for visitors to reach graves of loved ones and for their special value for wildlife.

Plants and animals found here would have once been common throughout the local area but have been lost as villages developed and meadows were built upon or improved for agriculture.

Management includes:

• Cutting the main paths on a regular basis to allow access.
• Keeping other areas of grass unmown in the summer to allow rare wildflowers, like meadow saxifrage, to flower and set seed. The uncut fine grass is also important for the survival of brown butterflies, such as meadow browns.
• Hay cropping in late summer to remove nutrients from the site, preventing coarser grasses from dominating the sward, and allows time for plants to set seed.