Cemeteries

115 Cemetery Road, Walkerton

975 Greenock Brant Townline

Note: This cemetery is closed to purchases and is only available to current Interment Right Holders for interments.

Brockton maintains a number of abandoned cemeteries located within the municipality. If you are looking for family history or genealogical information you are encouraged to visit the cemetery site yourself as we do not have complete burial records at the Municipal Office.

The Bruce County Museum has produced a Bruce County Cemetery Locator which lists cemeteries by historical townships and provides co-ordinates, civic address and legal descriptions for the cemeteries on this list.

For more information visit the Bruce County Museum's Research page.

List of Abandoned Cemeteries:

• Baptist Cemetery
• Old Bethel Methodist Cemetery
• Brocklebank Abandoned Cemetery
• Curtis Cemetery
• Old German Methodist Cemetery
• McLeans Cemetery
• Old Presbyterian Cemetery
• Roman Catholic Cemetery
• Campbell and Thompson Cemetery
• Greenock United Church Cemetery
• Greenwood Cemetery
• Jackson's Family Cemetery
• Early Settlers' Cemetery
• Old Presbyterian Cemetery

Within a cemetery, you are purchasing the Interment Rights for a specific plot. The land is still owned and maintained by the Municipality. 
Those looking to purchase Interment Rights for a plot, or have questions about what is available, are encouraged to contact the Municipality at 519-881-2223 Ext. 140 or by emailing the Municipal Executive Coordinator. 
Once an available plot is chosen, the Municipal Executive Coordinator will provide a contract for those looking to purchase the Interment Rights, once signed and payment is received in full, the plot Interment Rights are considered sold. Staff will then send you a package which will include the current by-law and price list, contract, map of where the plot is, Interment Rights Certificate, receipt and the BAO Consumer Information Guide.

The Walkerton Cemetery has three options for purchase.

Regular Plots

Size: 9 feet long, 4 feet wide

Capacity: One full body interment, three cremation interments, if placement allows and provided the full body interment occurs first OR four cremation interments, if placement allows.

Cremation Plots

Size: 2 feet long, 2 feet wide

Capacity: One cremation interment

Columbarium Niche

Size: 1 foot long, 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep

Capacity: Two cremation interments

The Starkvale Cemetery has very limited plots available for purchase and has one option.

Regular Plots

Size: 8 feet long, 3 feet wide

Capacity: One full body interment and three cremation interments, provided the full body interment occurs first, if placement allows, OR four cremation interments, if placement allows.

The Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery is not open for plot purchases. 

When purchasing the Interment Rights for a plot or niche, the fees associated with this purchase include the interment right fee, care and maintenance fee as well as HST.

The current fees can be found in the Cemetery Price list above.

Only the person, or people, who is the Interment Rights Holder, has the right to be buried, or to allow any burials within that plot. The Interment Rights Holder also has the right to erect a monument or marker on the plot, provided that the monument or marker follows the Cemetery By-law. 

The Bereavement Authority of Ontario publishes a Consumer Guide to Death guide, which outlines rights and other information for those purchasing Interment Rights

With the appropriate permissions, yes!
Interment Rights are passed through the family when there is no will. Generally, once an Interment Rights Holder passes, the rights are passed to a spouse, however if there is no living spouse, the rights will pass to all living heirs. This means that if there are four living children, the Municipality would require permission from all four children to proceed with an interment. Who inherits can also be determined through a declaration in a will. Inheriting Interment Rights is legislated through the Succession Law Reform Act, 1990 for Ontario.
Those wishing to inter in the historical family plots, or in a plot where the original Interment Rights Holder has passed, are required to seek permission from each family member as per the Succession Law Reform Act, 1990 and a family representative will be required to sign a declaration regarding confirmation of burial prior to the burial. This document states that they have obtained any and all necessary consents to conduct a burial in an inherited plot.

I wish to inter a loved one, what are the steps?

If you are looking to inter a loved one, who has a plot or if you have a plot that you are wishing to inter them into, the steps are fairly simple. If looking to conduct a full interment, the family will need to contact a funeral home in order to ensure the appropriate equipment is available for the interment as the Municipality does not have a lowering device. From here, either the family or the funeral home will arrange a date, time, approvals and file the appropriate paperwork. 

If the family is looking to inter a cremation, no funeral home is required and the family can contact municipal staff with the desired date and time for the interment. A Cremation Certificate will be required prior to interment. 

If there is no owned plot, or no plot with capacity, one will need to be purchased.
If there is a family plot, please review the historical family plot information for what permissions need to be sought. 

The Care and Maintenance Fund is an account that cemetery managers can access the interest of in order to maintain the cemetery. The Funeral, Burial and Cremations Act, 2002 mandates that every cemetery has a Care and Maintenance Fund and every Interment Rights Holder pays into it as part of their purchase.

This fund ensures that the cemetery has the funds to maintain the cemetery, in perpetuity. Types of maintenance that are permitted under the legislation are limited but include tasks regrading of plots, landscape maintenance, maintenance of water supply systems, roads and drainage. There is a separate Care and Maintenance fund for stone care. The cement base that the monuments rest on is maintained through this second Care and Maintenance Fund, all cement bases that pose a health and safety concern will be addressed by the Municipality. Any damage to the individual stones is the responsibility of the Interment Rights Holder. 

The Municipality does not buy back previously purchased plots. However, interment right holders wishing to sell their plot are permitted to sell to a third party, provided there are no interments or monuments installed. There is a Transfer of Ownership fee associated with this transaction. All transactions must be approved by the Municipality prior to transfer.

Those wishing to proceed with this process are encouraged to contact staff at 519-881-2223 Ext. 140 or by emailing the Municipal Executive Coordinator.