I have a family member who was 'buried' in a vault (not in England but definitely after Victorian English tradition, oddly enough!) in 2005. AFAIK there is no particular ceremony to it; everything ceremonial happens outside as if it were a graveside and then the coffin is just put inside on the relevant shelf by the pallbearers and the mourners walk away. Is it a vault on family land, or in a cemetery? That might make a difference to how long the whole thing takes and whether anyone else enters the vault, but I doubt it would be any more elaborate on private land.
I don't know if it helps but the vast majority of vaults are underground and are accessed by what looks like a huge grave stone or other covering
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Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I've found a couple of sites about Victorian deaths/mourning rituals/funerals and erm...even if it's not exact, hopefully it'll be helpful?
About half-way through the second link: The procession stopped at a chapel in the center of the cemetery. The mourners remained dignified and calm as they entered the chapel. The coffin was carried in and laid on a bier. At the end of the funeral service, the coffin was either lowered through the floor into catacombs, or the ceremony ended outside at the place of burial. If indeed the ceremony did end up at the actual burial site, the women would leave and only the men would remain to witness the actual interment.Nearer the end it does mention family mausoleums, but not really anything other than the fact that they existed :/ Nothing really about what happens when they get there. I would have suggested something similar to the flowers on the coffin, but I know one of the links
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1870s or 80s, I think (not absolutely sure of my timeline yet!), but it's the very poorly-attended funeral of a rather odd and old-fashioned man; it certainly won't be lavish, although it will be "proper".
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Thanks for the pointers; some useful stuff there!
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(Nice to see a shout out to the Great Gladys in your icon!)
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Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I've found a couple of sites about Victorian deaths/mourning rituals/funerals and erm...even if it's not exact, hopefully it'll be helpful?
Short overview
Longer and slightly more in-depth look
About half-way through the second link: The procession stopped at a chapel in the center of the cemetery. The mourners remained dignified and calm as they entered the chapel. The coffin was carried in and laid on a bier. At the end of the funeral service, the coffin was either lowered through the floor into catacombs, or the ceremony ended outside at the place of burial. If indeed the ceremony did end up at the actual burial site, the women would leave and only the men would remain to witness the actual interment.Nearer the end it does mention family mausoleums, but not really anything other than the fact that they existed :/ Nothing really about what happens when they get there. I would have suggested something similar to the flowers on the coffin, but I know one of the links ( ... )
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