Ashes urns and caskets

If you wish the urn to hold all of the ashes, for an average-sized adult, an urn that holds 3-3.5 litres will usually be suitable. We recommend speaking to your funeral arranger if you are unsure on size before ordering.

It depends on the specific design that you choose. Our urns come in all shapes and sizes so open in different ways. Some of our urns will likely have a threaded screw-top lid, whilst others may have the opening from the base of the urn.

We always recommend that your Funeral Director does this for you. It can be quite an emotional task.

Yes, you can. Some customers scatter the ashes and then keep other personal items in the urn such as a lock of hair or photograph. Others put these other items in with the ashes. It is your personal choice. If you intend to put in other items in the urn please ensure the urn is large enough.

In the UK, there’s no explicit law against scattering ashes, as long as you get permission from the person who owns the land.

• You don’t need permission to scatter ashes on your own land
• If you want to scatter the ashes over public or other private land, you’ll need to request permission from the landowner. That includes parks, commons, beaches, private farmland, churchyards and cemeteries.
• If you wish to scatter ashes in a river, a lake, or the sea, whilst you don’t need to request permission, you should check the advice from the environmental agency first.

You should be discreet and aware of your surroundings when scattering.

Yes, dividing ashes allows families to make different uses of the ashes. For example, someone may wish to scatter in a memorable place, another may wish to hold them. By dividing the ashes, everyone’s wishes can be considered.

You can keep ashes as long as you wish. Nothing will happen to the ashes, they do not deteriorate. If you plan to keep them for a considerable length of time, choose a more durable casket or urn, such as wood, stone, ceramic or metal urn.

Keepsake urns are much smaller than a standard-sized urn. They are specifically designed to hold just a small portion of the ashes.

To fill your keepsake urn yourself, firstly make sure you are wearing gloves. This will avoid the ashes getting stuck to your hands in case any are spilt. Then, take your container or bag with the ashes and carefully pour a small into your keepsake urn.

Alternatively, we recommend speaking to your funeral director about transferring the ashes for you. AB Walker can do the transfer for you.

Yes, if you wish to use one of our other urns for your pet’s ashes you can.