The Diocese of Lichfield has launched an investigation following an "extremely high" rate of memorial stones falling over at the St Benedict Biscop Churchyard at Wombourne, near Wolverhampton.

The churchyard is formally closed to new burials and responsibility for the care of the churchyard has passed from the Parochial Church Council to South Staffordshire District Council.

Last month the district council undertook safety tests of all gravestones in the churchyard in accordance with health and safety regulations and discovered a failure rate in excess of 40 per cent.

The gravestones that have failed have been temporarily secured with wooden stakes and next-of-kin have been given two years to obtain repairs. After this time the district council will lay flat any unsafe memorial stones which remain un-repaired.

The testing of memorial stones at Wombourne is part of a nationwide review of all gravestones which is taking place in churchyards and local authority cemeteries all over the country.

The high failure rate at Wombourne, however, has caused considerable anxiety and concern in the local community.

The Archdeacon of Lichfield, the Venerable Chris Liley, says the Church of England shares the concern of local residents: "The safety testing of gravestones is designed to ensure public safety, but we know it can cause anxiety.

"For this reason the local authority and the diocese agreed considerable steps to ensure local residents were informed about the testing process before it took place.

"But we were very concerned to discover the extremely high failure rate at Wombourne and want to understand what has caused it."

The diocese has commissioned an independent stonemason from outside the Wombourne area to undertake a review of the faulty gravestones and report back to the Archdeacon as soon as possible.

Liley added: "One of the outcomes we hope will come from this investigation will be to discover what lessons we can learn to prevent more families facing this distress of faulty gravestones in the future."

The review has been welcomed by the Rev Paul Brown, the Rector of the Smestow Vale Team, which includes Wombourne.

He said: "The church at Wombourne is part of the local community and we are as concerned as the locals about the very high failure rate.

" We need to get to the bottom of what has happened and discover the reason for it.

"I hope this investigation will begin the process of healing the pain that many people now feel".