To answer the original questions bodies have been cremated since the dawn of time (at least 20,000 years ago).
Here in England the Romans commonly used cremations until the fourth century ; the Anglo-Saxons also used cremation.
The practice died out in part due to confused Catholic thinking on the subject but that was softened in the 1960s.
As others have mentioned the first crematorium was built in 1878 in Woking.
Cheers
Guy
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