But the fan of English novelist Elizabeth Gaskell longs to be forgotten when she dies.

"I would rather be cremated and forgotten," said Mrs Leach.

For MP Martin Bell, though, an epitaph is an important reminder of someone's life.

"We all seek a little permanence in our lives," said Mr Bell. "It is our history set in stone."

But the former BBC war reporter doesn't want one either.

"An epitaph is not important to me," he said. "I don't want anything engraved in stone, but I enjoy looking at other people's gravestones."

The Rev Michael Cavanagh, Vicar of High Legh Parish Church and St Paul's Church in Tabley, also believes that an epitaph is important.

Among his favourites was a colonel's gravestone that read: 'Accidently shot in the foot by his butler. Well done thou good and faithful servant.'

Mr Cavanagh said epitaphs were important so that people could be remembered.

"An epitaph sums up someone's life - and anything that can help during a period of sadness is good," he said.

But he doesn't want anything set in stone either.

"I want my epitaph to be people's memories of me rather than words engraved in stone," he said.

Knutsford funeral director Barri Dodgson believes the difference between old and new gravestones is the amount of words.

"Many years ago they had more space on a gravestone for wording," he said.

"Nowadays they tend to be much smaller. People seem to be more functional in what they put on the stone."

Mrs Leach suspects older gravestones bear more writing because little was often known about how the person lived then.

"But maybe it's just because we've got more private in our lives nowadays," she said.

Whatever the reason, the cost of a headstone is an important factor in determining its size.

A typical headstone can cost anything between £500 and £2,000.

"Cost does come into it," said Mr Dodgson. "As well as the cost of a headstone, about £60 is added on top of that to have the gravestone erected.

"If the space in a graveyard is limited then the price of a new grave will increase."

But Mrs Leach doesn't see that as a problem and believes that the number of gravestones are in decline.

"Gravestones are historic," she said. "Space in graveyards is becoming very limited and it seems that there is a tendency nowadays for cremations."