Running Out of Room to Bury: A Bermuda Church Wants to Turn Swapped Land Into a Cemetery

• St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Somerset has applied to expand its cemetery
• The existing burial ground has very little space left
• The new section would use a parcel obtained in a 2012 deed of exchange
• The land has sat vacant since the swap

St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Somerset, Bermuda, has applied for planning permission to turn a vacant piece of its land into new burial space because its cemetery is nearly full, the Royal Gazette reported in August 2025.

According to the application, the existing cemetery has a “very restricted amount of space remaining within its existing boundaries”. The church wants to use a rectangular parcel of land to the east of the current burial ground and fence it so that it becomes part of the church property.

The land came to the church through a swap. A 2010 plan of subdivision by boundary adjustment was followed by a deed of exchange in 2012, under which, the application says, “the subdivision resulted in the transfer of a small area of church land” to a neighbouring owner “in exchange for the rectangular parcel of land.” The parcel has been empty since then. The application also noted that boats recently placed on the site were there without permission and do not belong to the church or its members.

Burial space can become a real pressure for churches in small island territories, where land is scarce. The Somerset application shows how a church can plan ahead, using a boundary adjustment and land exchange to square off its property and create room for future needs.

Many Jamaican churchyards are also filling up, and some congregations are dealing with unclear boundaries, encroachment or unused strips of land. The Bermuda case is a practical example of how a church can tidy its property through a formal swap with a neighbour, register the result and then put the land to use through the planning process. For Jamaican congregations and diaspora families who want to be buried at home, the capacity of the family churchyard is a real question, and it is best addressed before space runs out.

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