Can you register where ashes are scattered?

Yes, you can register where a loved one's ashes are scattered in the UK, and it's free.

The UK Ashes Register allows families to create a permanent, searchable record of where a loved one's ashes were scattered or interred. A listing takes minutes to create and costs nothing.

When someone's ashes are scattered, the moment is usually witnessed. A small group of people, a meaningful place, a quiet goodbye. But over time, memories fade. People move. The generation that was there grows older. And gradually, the place itself can become lost.

The Ashes Register exists to make sure that doesn't happen. 

What is the Ashes Register?

The Ashes Register is a free UK platform that allows families to create a permanent, searchable record of where a loved one's ashes were scattered or interred. It was built around a simple but important observation — that while cremation now accounts for more than 80% of UK funerals, the final resting places of the vast majority go completely unrecorded. Unlike a headstone in a churchyard, a scattering site leaves no permanent marker. Nothing for future generations to find. 

At Afterstone, we understand that need for something lasting — it's why we engrave natural memorial stones that can mark the place where a loved one's ashes were scattered or rest. The Ashes Register takes that further, creating a permanent digital record that future generations can find and return to.

A listing on the register is free to create, includes the location and a short description, and can be found by anyone searching for that person's name. An enhanced memorial page is also available for families who want to include photographs, documents, a eulogy, stories and a space for condolences.

It is, in short, a digital way of saying they were here. And this is where they rest.

Who supports the UK Ashes Register?

The Ashes Register was made possible through founding sponsorship from Pure Cremation and Memoria Group — two of the UK's leading cremation providers — alongside support from the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, Affordable Funerals and Scattering Ashes. It was formally launched at a Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (FBCA) conference, reflecting the level of serious industry backing behind it.

A.W. Lymn, one of the UK's most respected independent funeral directors, became the first funeral business to actively use the register, uploading records of 136 sets of uncollected ashes, some dating back to 1952, giving families a chance to find loved ones they had lost track of entirely.

Why it matters

One of the things we hear most often from the families we speak to is a quiet anxiety about impermanence — the feeling that scattering ashes, however right it felt at the time, leaves nothing behind. No place to go back to. No way for grandchildren or great-grandchildren to find them one day.

The Ashes Register doesn't solve that entirely. But it helps. A permanent, searchable digital record means that even decades from now, someone can find out where their grandmother's ashes were scattered — and why that place mattered to her.

That feels important.

Who is it for?

The register is for anyone who has scattered or interred a loved one's ashes — or who is planning to. Recent loss or many years ago. There is no time limit and no requirement to have just cremated someone. If there is a place that matters, it can be recorded.

How to register a loved one

Creating a listing is free and straightforward. Visit ashesregister.com, create an account, and add your loved one's details — their name, dates, the location of their ashes, and anything else you'd like to include.

A basic listing is completely free. An enhanced memorial page — which allows photographs, extended biography, and a condolences section — is available for a small one-off fee.

A note from us

At Afterstone, we exist to help families commemorate a life beautifully, and we offer natural engraved memorial stones to provide a marker for where a loved one's ashes were scattered or buried. The Ashes Register does something quietly different but equally important — it helps make sure that life isn't forgotten for future generations.

We think every family who has scattered or interred a loved one's ashes should know it exists.

If you have any questions about commemorating a loved one, we're always here: vmarsh@afterstone.co.uk or 01392 925061.