Miscellaneous

As part of the church's aim to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2030, the present proposal was to install solar panels on the roof of the south-aisle of the church, six storage batteries in the former organ blower room, two external heat pump evaporator units and associated cabling. The Chancellor considered that the panels would have little visual impact on the church and that the level of damage to the architectural and historical significance of the church would be very low. He therefore granted a faculty.

Following a reordering of the church in 1991-1994, it was proposed to place carvings of the heads of the current Bishop of Peterborough (the Rt. Rev. William Westwood) and the current Vicar of Oundle (the Rev. Dr. Lloyd Caddick) as label stops in the nave. (Label stops are put where arches meet in a 'V' at the top of pillars.) The new carvings would be put at the top of the only two pillars in the nave which did not have label stops above them. There were four parties opponent, whose main objections were on the ground of appropriateness, including a suggestion that it was not appropriate to place the likenesses of living persons in the church. The Chancellor found against the objectors and granted a faculty. He was able to accept that the proposals for carved heads were acceptable legally, architecturally and aesthetically, and they were appropriate items to be introduced into the church.

In spite of reservations by a few parishioners, the Chancellor approved the acceptance of a gift of a silver chalice and paten in memory of a former regular worshipper at the church, the late Mrs. Mary Rowe, the chalice to be inscribed on the base: "In memory of Mary Rowe 1938-2001".

This judgment concerned a preliminary issue as to whether a faculty would be required for the sale of a Greek lectionary, which had been given to the church in 1948. The church is unlisted and unconsecrated, but in 1990 the Bishop of Southwark made an order under the provisions of section 6 of the Faculty Jurisdiction Measure 1964, making the church subject to the faculty jurisdiction. The lectionary had never been kept in the church. It was originally put into a bank vault, but allegedly displayed in the church occasionally on festival occasions. In 1968 it was loaned to the British Library. In 2019 the British Library informed the parish that it no longer wished to have the lectionary on loan, and it was transferred to Trinity College, Cambridge. Notwithstanding that the lectionary had rarely, if ever, been in the church, the Chancellor decided that it could still be described as part of the contents of the church, even if its whereabouts were not physically inside the church. Therefore, a faculty would be required to authorise a disposal of the lectionary.

The vicar and churchwardens and the Parochial Church Council wished to dispose of two items of silver: an Elizabethan jug mount (silver and glass), hallmarked 1582 and a silver-gilt steeple cup and cover, hallmarked 1613. The petitioners wished to use the proceeds to help them to complete a reordering project. The Chancellor granted a faculty. The judgment contains a summary of recent case law relating to the disposal of valuable objects from churches.

The Chancellor, for two reasons, dismissed an application by a private individual for an injunction to stop the Dean & Chapter of York Minster preventing the ringing of the Minster bells. Firstly, the Chancellor had no jurisdiction over the cathedral church of the diocese; and secondly, "the injunctive powers given to Chancellors is in relation to unlawful activity in relation to the church or the churchyard, but only such activity the nature of which would require a faculty to be granted for it to be done lawfully. The use or non-use of the church, the conduct of services in the church and the ringing or non-ringing of bells would not fall within the jurisdiction of the consistory court in a parish church."