Burial orientation guide

Traditionally burials are carried out in an East facing orientation, whereby the deceased is buried facing the sunrise.   In some of the city's cemeteries memorials are installed back-to-back, in these circumstances some memorials face west resulting in the memorial being situated at the feet of the deceased (see Figure 1).

As the grave that has been allocated has a west facing memorial stone orientation, Sunderland City Council offer an alternative to the traditional east facing burial, whereby the coffin can be rotated so the memorial is situated at the head of deceased, and therefore the deceased faces a western orientation (see Figure 2).