Myths Surrounding Cremation

Your questions answered... the popular myths surrounding cremation - DEBUNKED!!!

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Do you get cremated in a coffin?

Yes. Before a body is placed in a coffin, the funeral director and mortuary technician will remove anything that might cause problems during cremation, like watches or pacemakers (which can explode in the heat). Once that is complete, the body is placed in the coffin, the coffin is closed and, when the time comes, brought to the crematorium for the cremation.

Does the coffin get cremated with the body?

Crematoria in the UK follow a strict code of practice which states that a coffin and its contents must be put in the cremator exactly as they were received. So, do they burn coffins at cremations? Yes, always.

What happens to the coffin after cremation?

Coffins are built to be completely destroyed during the cremation process. It takes a lot of heat to cremate a body – so much, in fact, that there’s normally little or nothing left of the coffin among the ashes at the end. The ashes themselves are actually fragments of bone.
If, for any reason, you’re worried about what’s going to happen to your loved one’s body before or during cremation, you might be allowed into the committal chamber as a witness. You might also find it useful to read our guide to what happens during a cremation to get an idea of how the process will go.

How do I know the ashes are my loved one's?

Every funeral or cremation ceremony has a point where the body of the person who has died is committed, meaning it is taken into a separate room. This is the point where an inspector checks that the nameplate on the coffin matches the cremation order. Nothing can be removed from the coffin once the committal has taken place.
Once that check has happened, it’s difficult to mix things up. A cremator only has enough space for one coffin at a time, and cremation takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours depending on the size and age of the person. All the ashes are removed from the cremator before the next cremation. An identity card is used throughout the whole process until the final disposal of ashes, thereby ensuring correct identification.