Urns
Cremation Urns: Sizes, Prices and How to Choose One
An urn is the only memorial designed to hold everything the crematorium returns. Getting the size right takes one simple calculation — and most families pay far less than the funeral director's price list suggests.
Ashes come back from the crematorium in a plain plastic or cardboard container. There is no rule that says you must move them, and no deadline for deciding: cremated remains are stable and keep indefinitely. Many families leave them exactly as they are for a year or more.
When you do want something better, the urn is the only memorial designed to hold all of it — which is why it tends to be the first purchase, and the one that buys time to think about everything else.
How much there is
An adult cremation produces roughly 1.8 to 2.7 kilograms of remains, according to the Cremation Association of North America, though it varies with height and bone density more than with weight. In volume, that is where the sizing rule comes from.
The sizing rule, in one line
One cubic inch of urn capacity for every pound of body weight before cremation.
Someone who weighed 12 stone (168 lb) needs at least 168 cubic inches. A standard adult urn holds about 200 cubic inches, roughly 3.3 litres, which covers most adults with room to spare. Urns UK lists capacities from 6 cubic inches for keepsakes up to 410 for the largest adult urns.
If you are between sizes, round up. An urn with spare room causes nobody any difficulty; one that is slightly too small causes a bad afternoon.
The types, and what each is for
- Display urns — wood, ceramic, metal, stone. Made to sit somewhere in the house.
- Burial urns — for interment in a cemetery or churchyard plot. Check the site's own rules first; some specify materials or outer containers.
- Columbarium niches — a wall of small compartments at a crematorium or cemetery, each holding an urn. Sizes are fixed, so measure before buying.
- Biodegradable urns — paper, salt, sand, clay. For burial in the ground or release on water. Some are designed to grow a tree; see our guide to memorial trees.
- Scatter tubes — cardboard tubes with a spout, made for pouring rather than keeping.
- Keepsake urns — small, for a portion each when several people want one.
What it costs in the UK
The range is wider than most people expect, and the funeral director's brochure is rarely the cheapest place to buy.
| Type | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Velvet ashes bag | from about £4 |
| Keepsake urn | £4–£99 |
| Scatter tube | £35–£50 |
| Most wooden, metal or ceramic adult urns | £40–£150 |
| Larger or hand-finished adult urns | up to about £190 |
Those figures come from Urns UK's adult and keepsake ranges and from Go Direct Cremations' price survey, both checked recently. Materials on offer run from brass, copper and pewter through wood, ceramic and raku to glass, alabaster and marble.
You are under no obligation to buy an urn from whoever arranged the funeral. Buying independently is straightforward, and the choice is far wider.
Scattering instead, or afterwards
Plenty of families buy an urn, keep it for a year, and then scatter. The rules, briefly:
- On land you do not own — including farmland, parks and National Trust sites — you need the landowner's permission.
- On rivers, lakes and the sea, no licence is required. The Environment Agency asks people to keep away from drinking-water abstraction points, marinas and places anglers use, and to leave nothing non-biodegradable behind — which rules out plastic urns and ribbon.
- Scotland and Wales have their own agencies with their own guidance.
If you scatter, a scatter tube is designed for the job; pouring from a display urn in wind is not the memory you want.
Common questions
Do I have to buy an urn at all?
No. Keeping the ashes in the crematorium's container for as long as you need is perfectly normal.
Can ashes be divided between several urns?
Yes, and keepsake urns exist for exactly that. Jewellery serves the same purpose using far less.
What size urn does a pet need?
The same rule — one cubic inch per pound the animal weighed. See pet memorials.
Can I take an urn abroad?
Generally yes, but the paperwork is set by the airline and by the destination country, not by us — check both before booking, and ask your funeral director which documents they can provide. Expect the urn to go through a scanner: non-metallic urns are easier to screen.
What if I want to keep most of the ashes but make something from them?
That is the common case. A remembrance stone uses a large share, jewellery a teaspoon, and fireworks a few hundred grams. Decide the order: what is made first, what stays in the urn — our guide to using all of the ashes sets the options side by side.
Sources
- Adult cremation urns — Urns UK; prices, capacities from 6 to 410 cubic inches, materials, the one-cubic-inch-per-pound rule (checked 23 September 2026)
- Affordable cremation urns — Go Direct Cremations; UK price ranges (checked 21 September 2026)
- Cremation urn size guide — Memorials.com; 200 cubic inches as the standard adult size (checked 21 September 2026)
- How much ash is left after cremation — Funeral.com, citing the Cremation Association of North America (checked 21 September 2026)
- Can a client's ashes be scattered in his local river? — The Law Society (checked 21 September 2026)
Continue reading
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