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Alphabetical Index of all judgments on this web site as at 10 September 2024

Judgments indexed by Diocese:
2023 Judgments
2022 Judgments
2021 Judgments

Re All Saints Rettendon [2019] ECC Chd 1

The petitioners wished to erect in the churchyard a memorial to their late mother. The memorial proposed was to be a bird bath, carved from grey, unpolished Finland granite, containing the name, and dates of birth and death of the deceased, and inscribed with the words: “The goat’s milk is sour.” (These words had been used by the family for over 30 years in times of stress, to relieve tension, and no-one had objected to them.) But the Diocesan Advisory Committee did not recommend the proposed design, on the basis that it might form a precedent. However, the Parochial Church Council approved the proposal, as the bird bath would be placed next to trees, where mourners had from time to time placed bird feeders. The deceased had been a great supporter of wildlife in general and birds in particular. The Deputy Chancellor decided in the particlar circumstances that it was appropriate to grant a faculty.

Re All Saints Ripley [2024] ECC Lee 2

The Chancellor granted a faculty for a number of items of reordering, including the replacement of the nave pews with Rosehill Chantry chairs; lowering the existing pew platforms; modification of choir and reader pews; a ladder to a storage area; and certain electrical works. The Chancellor was satisfied that the works would cause only marginal harm to the church.

Re All Saints Rothbury [2015] Euan Duff Ch. (Newcastle)

The petitioners sought a faculty to restore and reposition the Hill organ in the church. There was one objector. Faculty granted.

Re All Saints Rothbury [2018] ECC New 3

The petition proposed various works to the church roof and other parts of the fabric. The only contentious item was the proposal to fix a safety rope in the spiral staircase of the tower. The church architect proposed a rope running down the outer radius of the staircase, because there was an electrical cable conduit running down the inner radius. The objector, on behalf of local bell ringers, objected to an outer rope, which would tend to make users walk towards the narrower part of the very narrow staircase. The Chancellor granted a faculty for a safety rope running down the inner radius, with fixing points at intervals, which would not force users towards the narrow part of the treads and would mean it would be less likely that people might grab the electrical conduit for support.

Re All Saints Rotherham [2021] ECC She 8

The Chancellor granted a faculty for "the installation of a sharp second bell in order to create a true light octave of the front eight bells in the bell tower." All Saints, otherwise known as Rotherham Minster, is Grade I, but the Chancellor was satisfied that the works would not affect the ancient structure or the architectural or the historical significance of the building.

Re All Saints Sanderstead [2018] ECC Swk 4

The petitioners wished to remove seven rows of pews in the north aisle of the church and replace them with some existing upholstered chairs in storage, in order to allow a more flexible use of the space. The Victorian Society objected that the upholstered chairs were not suitable for the Grade I listed church. The Chancellor concluded that the introduction of the chairs would cause only moderate harm to the church, and that this harm would be outweighed by the resulting public benefit. He accordingly granted a faculty.

Re All Saints Scotby [2023] ECC Car 2

The petitioners wished urgently to install in the church a new gas boiler, to replace the existing 35 years old boiler (which had been condemned) and to make improvements to the heating system and boiler room. The Diocesan Advisory Committee did not approve the proposal. It took the view that the petitioners had not fully considered the alternatives to using fossil fuel. The Deputy Chancellor granted a faculty, being satisfied that the petitioners had in fact considered all the available alternative heating systems, and that the system proposed was the only viable option that the church could afford. The Faculty was to be subject to a condition that the church either switched to a green gas tariff or entered into a separate arrangement with a carbon off-setting scheme to offset the carbon emissions from all non-renewable gas used.

Re All Saints Scraptoft [2012] Mark Blackett-Ord Ch. (Leicester)

The Vicar and Churchwardens requested a faculty for the disposal of a tenor bell dated 1600, which became redundant when a new set of six bells was installed in 2009. The proposal was that the bell should be sold to a local arts charity, which had used the bell with the permission of the Chancellor as a centrepiece for an arts festival in Folkestone, and that conditions should be imposed onteh sale that if no longer required by the arts charity, the bell should not be scrapped or exported, but should be offered to a museum, and in default of a museum being willing to take it, the bell should be given to Taylor's bell foundry in Loughborough. The Chancellor considered that such conditions imposed on a sale would be unenforceable, and suggested that the petitioner's consider applying for a faculty to simply lend the bell to the Folkestone arts charity.

Re All Saints Sharrington [2014] Ruth Arlow Ch. (Norwich)

A faculty was granted for the installation of wireless broadband equipment at the parish church. The judgment deals with the questions of whether relatives of a person living within the parish who do not themselves live within the parish have a sufficient interest to enable their representations to be considered; whether the Consistory Court has jurisdiction over matters which affect not only the church or churchyard but also potentially a wider area; whether the role of the Diocesan Board of Finance as, indirectly, a shareholder in the company proposing to erect wireless broadband equipment on the church had a bearing on the case; and whether the electromagnetic radiation emanating from the proposed wireless broadband equipment would be harmful to health.

Re All Saints Shawell [2016] ECC Lei 3

The Chancellor authorised the removal of a block of pews from the north-west corner on the Grade II* Victorian church, in order to allow the installation of a disabled toilet and a servery.