Burial shroud

It certainly is not 'horrible' to dress a body in a shroud....as suggested up thread.
My father died, very young, in the 1950's. I was ten years old.
For three days his body was in an open coffin at home.
I remember thinking how serene and beautiful he looked. He was dressed in a beautiful white, silky shroud with a purple girdle around his waist.
Nothing horrible about that.
But we must all do what is right for us at the time.

To clarify, my grandmother was dressed in a simple shroud but was her body was buried in a coffin.

Personally, I don’t see much point in wearing clothes to be buried or cremated in.

A simple shroud, which probably just lays over the top of you, seems sufficient.

A friend of mine, whose 96 year old dad used to be an undertaker, specified for his wife to just be in a shroud.

He said he had struggled enough times getting deceased people into cumbersome items of clothing, and wanted something simple for her and himself.

Although old fashioned.l think burial shrouds are deeply meaningful to some families and religions.

When my husband died my parents thought he would just have a shroud over him . I was horrified and said no he would be wearing clothes. He was cremated in my favourite shirts of his , trousers,underpants and his favourite Homer Simpson socks . Can't have shoes or belts being cremated .
My husband said don't burn me in my Jeff Banks suit it cost me £350 in the mid 90's.

A friend of mine had her husband buried in a beautiful wicker coffin but only had a sheet on his body .

Made sure both my parents had clothes on for their cremations .

I know my view won't be popular but I think it's horrible to think just putting an shroud on someone when they are dead it's not dignified. I am an atheist so was my husband he had non religious funeral at the crem. With pieces of music we choose . ELO Mr Blue Sky when we left which was ironic as it was pouring with rain but he would had thought it was funny. We didn't have flowers but donations and raised £5,000+ it was to be used for treats for cancer patients on the cancer unit that treated my husband. A maximum of £50 per treat . But no one had anything that expensive. Some wanted a fan, bottle of spirit, posh chocolates or electric blanket etc. Pleased to say the money went a long way and made a difference to people . This was in 2004 .

Cardboard coffins are the way to go, and if we really want to preserve trees then cardboard should be mandatory.

Polished coffins with shiny brass handles are purely for showing-off purposes.

As an ex undertaker can I just say that during my working years we always gave our departed ones a shroud and a coffin as a shroud is the sometimes sheet the person is wrapped in. Today mourners prefer to used their loved one’s own clothes so we don’t refer to that/them as shrouds but I can assure you they are still used. We have always kept a supply of different styles in stock and pyjamas for the gentlemen and nightdresses for the ladies.
A coffin was always made of wood to carry the deceased in during the funeral, shroud around the body, coffin lined with silk panels but now mainly polyester in lovely colours. . Different style coffins today, wicker, cardboard etc definitely require a shroud which we would advise.
In past years most deceased were buried wearing shrouds as due to lack of finance it would be considered a terrible waste to use perfectly wearable clothing in the coffin, as someone would have dads suit, or mums best dress, common sense really. Bodies still come back to the funeral home from hospitals, nursing homes wearing a shroud or wrapped in a sheet.

I was an executor for an aunt. She and her friend were very devout Christians. Her friend believed that when she rose again on judgment day her amputated leg would be restored. The two friends wanted to be buried in lead lined coffins and put in brick lined graves. They were not around to see the results of the council's rules. which did not comply with their wishes..

I arranged direct cremation for Himself two months ago.
So an inexpensive coffin and probably a ‘horrid’ blue cotton shroud. What does it matter, really?

The undertaker (a family friend) and I were discussing wicker caskets.

I had been to a funeral 15 years ago when one of the coffins was carried in down the aisle of the church. It creaked. I couldn’t help thinking of a picnic basket.

The undertaker said unlike a wooden (sealed) coffin the air in wicker can circulate. Some funerals take weeks to organise due to circumstances, bodies decompose and the air can be quite pungent. Something I’d not realised.

A black bin liner will do me. Pure Cremation, or burn and return as we like to call it. Each to their own!

I’ve never seen them here, only in Scotland.
I remember at my great grandfather’s wake, he was lying on the table surrounded by something like this.
I remember being petrified because I was made to crawl under the table to shove a shilling in the meter 😩
I do know that he went in a coffin later on as that was stood up in the corner.

I suppose a clean sheet would do just as well!

We were in the undertakers waiting to set off for my mother in law’s funeral and were put into a small room. I was wondering round and round, being nosy, lifted the lid of a cardboard box.
Full of the most horrible blue and pink shrouds, at least I presumed that’s what they were.
If you are going to have one then my advice is-pick your own.
You could have a shroud and a wicker coffin.

According to Google
"Burial shrouds in the UK are widely available for green, woodland, and traditional funerals, offering a sustainable, biodegradable alternative to coffins"
Sounds like a very good idea to me. Perhaps it depends on the cemetery, whether it would be accepted, but I really don't see why not.
In the 1700's burial "in woollen" was compulsory unless you were well off and able to pay a tax not to comply. Your relatives had to make an affidavit swearing that you had been "buried in woollen". It was a way of keeping the woollen industry going.

before my DH's funeral, the undertaker asked if he was to be wrapped in a shroud, to which i agreed. I didn't
ask, but I imagine it was just simple cotton He had a,cardboard coffin printed with pictures from his life.

I thought everyone had a shroud if not dressed in specific clothing. I know an aunt had her specified violet shroud for her burial, and my mother the same for her cremation. When nursing in the 60s and attending to a deceased person a shroud was always used for transportation to the morgue awaiting collection by undertaker. My DH wore his overalls and I had to remove metal parts for the undertaker before cremation.

Is it legal to be buried without a coffin in the UK?

It is not in Denmark, nor to my knowledge in most other countries.

A shroud was originally a sheet the corpse was wrapped in. In the middle ages the poor were buried only in their shrouds, those who could afford it in a coffin.

Muslims and Jews would for religious reasons prefer to be buried only in a shroud, although they are carried to the cemetary in a coffin, but few countries allow burial without a coffin, or cremation without one either, although of course no observant Muslim or Jew would choose cremation.

keepingquiet

When I was young I used to visit my grandma and being curious, was always nosing around.
One day I found a long white robe in a drawer and asked her what it was.
'My shroud,' she said, 'I'm going to be buried in it.'

I miss my Grandma.

Oh, don’t be sad……I miss my Grandma too keepingquiet and my mum and dad. Sending a virtual hug 💐

Yes - but it is on a built in wooden tray/stretcher.

So the shroud is instead of the coffin? Cannot quite imagine that

My Grandmother in Ireland was buried in a shroud although that was over twenty years ago.

FoghornLeghorn

This brings to mind an episode when I was a student nurse. The ward linen cupboard was actually a small room and on this particular day the lightbulb had blown. I was getting a patient ready for surgery and went into said cupboard to get him a theatre gown. He was somewhat surprised to find that in my fumbling in the dark I had picked up not a theatre gown but a shroud! Fortunately he had a good sense of humour and it certainly amused the other men in his bay.

This brings to mind an episode when I was a student nurse. The ward linen cupboard was actually a small room and on this particular day the lightbulb had blown. I was getting a patient ready for surgery and went into said cupboard to get him a theatre gown. He was somewhat surprised to find that in my fumbling in the dark I had picked up not a theatre gown but a shroud! Fortunately he had a good sense of humour and it certainly amused the other men in his bay.

When I was young I used to visit my grandma and being curious, was always nosing around.
One day I found a long white robe in a drawer and asked her what it was.
'My shroud,' she said, 'I'm going to be buried in it.'

I miss my Grandma.

I think you need something solid under a shroud for "handling" purposes - whether cremation or burial.