Guy Ritchie wins right to dig his own grave

Film director and his wife granted permission to build burial plot at the country home he secured after divorce from Madonna

Guy Ritchie has won permission to build a burial plot at his country home to “cement the family’s tie to the land”.
Ritchie, the film director, and Jacqui Ainsley, his wife, applied for the hillside burial plot at Ashcombe House in Wiltshire in March.
The plot had to be relocated further to the west after concerns were raised about the visual impact on a monument nearby called Castle Dyke.
Wiltshire Council agreed that the idea was “low level and sympathetically constructed for such a setting”.
Ritche, 56, bought the house with his then wife Madonna when it came onto the market for the first time in decades in 2001.
However, when they separated in 2008, he negotiated to keep the house as part of the divorce settlement.
The burial plot will be walled using flint and greenstone and blacksmith-made gates and lies near the Grade II-listed early 18th-century main house, once home to Cecil Beaton, the diarist and photographer.
The proposed plot initially fell within the setting of a complex of Iron Age and Romano-British settlements on Berwick Down, around 700m southeast of Ashcombe Farm.
The area contains many cross dykes and earthworks, hinting at previous occupation.
The case officer’s report said: “Due to initial concerns raised by Historic England regarding the insertion of a burial plot between the two northernmost cross dykes fragmenting the sense of interconnectedness between the designated areas, a revised location plan was submitted, and Historic England confirmed that the revised position was far more acceptable.
“The revised position is more secluded and appropriate for the wider landscape.”
There were no objections to the plans from locals or groups consulted.
The council’s conservation officer was consulted on the proposal and added: “There would be no adverse impact on Ashcombe House, orangery and gatehouse due to the distance and lack of a connection between.”
The Ritchies’ agent, TFH Reeves, said in a planning statement: “The proposal is for a small private burial ground, walled in the local greenstone and flint chequer board, set high on the hillside overlooking the house and the estate.
“There would be very distant and partial views from the right of way through the estate. This is not intended to make a statement in the landscape but cement the family’s tie to the land.”
Ritchie met Jacqui, 42, in 2010 and the pair have three children: Rafael, Rivka, and Levi.
They document their family lives on their Instagram accounts, with Ashcombe House regularly featuring.