A final appeal has been made to families with relatives buried in a medieval Gloucestershire graveyard before safety measures are made to remove the risk of death and injury for visitors to the popular walking area.

The churchyard of St Cyr's in Stonehouse, which has a tower dating from the 14th century and parts dating back to 1255, was given a safety check earlier this year. 

The survey revealed how 71 tombstones posed a risk to people who were visiting the cemetery - but enquiries over surviving relatives have led to many of the gravestones being unclaimed.

A spokesman for Stroud District Council said: "Responsibility for the maintenance of memorials lies with their owner - usually the closest family member of the deceased."

After initial enquiries, SDC said that seven of the memorials have since been made safe by their owners, but that the rest were deemed to be "unsafe structures" and would be laid flat in the coming weeks.

Cllr Chloe Turner, Chair of SDC Environment Committee, said: "Councils have a duty to ensure that cemeteries and graveyards for which they are responsible are safe. Memorials are often very heavy and, when they become unstable, could cause accidents."

St Cyr's sits on a popular walking route for access to the restored section of the Stroudwater Canal near Ocean Jubilee Bridge, she said, and the council had "a responsibility to ensure it is safe for everyone who visits".

SDC said it is responsible for some 2,000 memorial stones in eight cemeteries: Brimscombe Cemetery; St Cyr's, Stonehouse; St Mary's, Rodborough; Christchurch, Chalford; St Mary Magdalene, Berkeley; Holy Trinity, Brimscombe; St Michael and All Angels, Bussage and Woodchester Cemetery. It intends to run safety testing at St Mary's Church, Rodborough and Brimscombe Cemetery later this year, with remaining cemeteries tested as part of a five-year rolling plan.

A six-year-old boy from Harrogate, north Yorkshire, was crushed to death when a five-foot high headstone fell on top of him in 2000. In 2015, an eight-year old boy was fatally crushed in an incident in a graveyard in Glasgow.

Between 1979 and 2009, eight people in the UK died as a result of a memorial falling on them, according to Ministry of Justice figures. The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management says a dangerous or unstable memorial "is defined as one that will move and continue to fall to the ground with the exertion of a force of 25kg or less". 

● The safety regulation British Gravestone Standard 8415 requires a stone to remain upright when a lateral force of 35kg is applied to its apex, which is equivalent to a 14-stone man trying to get up using the headstone as an aid.