Irish Examiner view: Finding a new way of death

A burial plot in Woodbrook Natural Burial Ground in Wexford. Plans are in place in Cork City for Ireland's second natural burial ground. Picture: The Green Graveyard Co

As we learn to live more sustainably there is an increasing and fast-rising level of interest in the last stage of that journey, the way we choose our departure from this world and our final resting place.

Ireland has one natural burial ground, in Killane, Co Wexford, and now plans are in place for a second as part of a major extension of St Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully, on Cork City’s northside. Details will be published soon for public consultation as part of the Part 8 planning process.

The eco-burial movement began in the earliest years of the 21st century. There are some 150 green sites in the US and more than 200 in the UK. While it only accounts for just over 1% of funerals the numbers are increasing. The company which manages the Wexford site says that 20% of its inquiries originate in Cork.

Such plots do not allow concrete surrounds or headstones and often have only simple, and ultimately biodegradable, markers. Some graves are unmarked. 

Locations are not defined in a linear pattern but are laid out irregularly, connected by winding, grassy avenues which eventually grow to become living woodlands and wildflower meadows.

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Typically, coffins are not made from solid timber or chipboard and veneer but offer options such as willow, water hyacinth, banana leaf, pandanus, and cardboard.

When the plan was first mooted, pre-pandemic, Cork Green councillor Oliver Moran told the city council: “I’m taken aback by the interest and support for the idea, even from people who wouldn’t be natural environmentalists. There’s a genuine interest that in death people would exist at peace with the world and nature. There’s something really moving about that.” Indeed, there is. Eco burials tap into those modern themes of continuity, sustainability, the circle of life, the reality that humankind consists of the “same stuff as stars”. 

The rituals of death and grieving can differ for all religions and none. Adding to them takes time. Modern cremation became part of the rites of Ireland in 1982 when Glasnevin Crematorium was opened. It now features in one in five funerals in the Republic. The tranquillity of woodland burial is likely to become a more common experience for many if new sites are made available.