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

Judgments indexed by Diocese:
2024 Judgments
2023 Judgments
2022 Judgments
2021 Judgments

Re St. James Nunburnholme [2018] ECC Yor 1

The proposal was to fell a sycamore tree in the churchyard and replace it with smaller suitable trees further away from the church building. The tree was at least 10m taller than the church tower and 5.3m from the church building, resulting in moss on the church roof, black mould on the nearest church buttress and the blocking of gutters and fall pipes during the autumn. A tree specialist also advised that there was a risk of splitting of the four main boughs. The Chancellor as satisfied that there as a good case for removing the tree and granted a faculty.

Re St. James Piccadilly [2023] ECC Lon 4

Extensive works to the inside and the outside of the church were proposed. The only item in contention was the proposed erection of a new thatched pavilion building in the south-west corner of the churchyard. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings objected that thatch would be an incongruous material to use in an urban environment; it would be a fire risk; and thatching material might be difficult to source now or for replacement in the future. Given that the Planning Authority was satisfied that the single-storey new building would not have any deleterious effect on the churchyard and the church, the Chancellor saw no reason for refusing to grant a faculty.

Re St. James Pokesdown [2000] Mark Hill Ch. (Winchester)

The proposal was to erect a temporary classroom building within the churchyard (which was closed for burials), pending the completion of an extension to the Church of England school. The Chancellor granted a faculty, subject to conditions which included the removal of the temporary building within two years. The Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884 prohibits the erection of a building on a closed churchyard, unless for the purpose of enlarging a church, chapel, meeting house or other place or worship. In the present case, the temporary building would be linked to the church and would be available for use by the church on Sundays.

Re St. James Ravenfield [2019] ECC She 2

The grave of the petitioner's maternal grandparents was marked by a dark grey granite memorial in 1985. (The churchyard contains mostly memorials of the yellowish brown sandstone quarried locally.) Subsequently, the cremated remains of the petitioner’s aunt and her husband were buried in the plot and a dark granite cube memorial was installed. The petitioner's father and mother died in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and the petitioner now wished to place dark grey granite kerbs around the grave and add a desk-type memorial within the kerbs. Whilst the Chancellor considered it unfortunate that a dark grey granite memorial had been erected on the grave, a number of other dark grey granite memorials had been introduced into the churchyard, and she considered that a decision to require the use the local sandstone would not be appropriate: "either the memorial for the Petitioner’s parents would not match the existing memorial features at the plot, or the Petitioner would be obliged to replace the headstone and memorial cube to avoid this." She also considered it arguable, given the location of the cube memorial, that the addition of the kerb sets would both improve the appearance of the grave and ease its maintenance. She therefore granted a faculty.

Re St. James Ravenfield [2024] ECC She 1

The Petitioner sought permission retrospectively for a wooden surround and blue slate chippings installed without permission and contrary to the diocesan churchyards rules on a grave containing the remains of his grandparents. The Chancellor determined that there was no proper basis on which to permit a faculty. She therefore dismissed the petition and authorised the Parochial Church Council to remove the wooden surround and blue slate chippings.

Re St. James Shaftesbury [2019] ECC Sal 1

The petitioners wished to have the cremated remains of their mother exhumed from the grave of her parents in one part of the churchyard and reinterred with the remains of the petitioners' father in another part of the same churchyard. Their father had expressed a wish to be buried with his wife, but the petitioners felt there would be difficulties in interring their father's ashes into the grave containing the remains of their mother and her parents. The Chancellor could find no special reasons for allowing exhumation. It would be possible to inter the ashes of the petitioners' father in the existing grave where his wife's remains were interred, thus fulfilling his wishes. Although there was insufficient space on the existing memorial to add the petitioners' father's name and dates of birth and death, the petitioners could lay a plaque in memory of their father on the grave, or else replace the existing memorial with a new one containing inscriptions in respect of the four people whose remains were interred in the grave. The petition was dismissed.

Re St. James Southbroom [2022] ECC Sal 2

The Vicar and Churchwardens wished to fell twelve hornbeam trees lining the path to the south porch of the church. The trees were said to have outgrown their situation, resulting in the area being very dark, the grass beneath them being affected and the pathway becoming slippery. There were several written objections. The diocesan trees advisor and the local authority advised that the trees had grown too large for their setting. The Chancellor determined that the benefits of the proposal would outweigh the loss of amenity and she accordingly granted a faculty.

Re St. James Southlake [2025] ECC Oxf 1

The parish wished to fence in a grassed area of the modern, unlisted church’s land in order to provide a safer outdoor space for children’s church activities and for community groups using this open space. There were two objections from neighbouring residents, alleging nuisance from noise created by those already using the church land. The Chancellor was satisfied that the petitioners had demonstrated a clear and convincing justification for the proposed works and granted a faculty, making it clear that deciding upon questions of nuisance was a matter for the civil courts, rather than the consistory court.

Re St. James Staveley [2022] ECC Car 3

The main proposals for the Grade II Victorian church were for new glazed porch doors, a new inner glazed door (whilst retaining the historic timber doors), and improved access arrangements. The Victorian Society objected informally to the proposals relating to the doors, on the grounds that glazed doors would introduce an inappropriate element to a Victorian church and constitute harm to the significance of the listed building. Per contra, the petitioners argued that the glazed doors would provide openness and welcome. Moreover, similar glazed doors had been installed in the nearby Grade I church of Holy Trinity Kendal. The Chancellor considered that the justification for the works outweighed the low degree of potential harm to the church. He therefore granted a faculty.

Re St. James Sutton Cheney [2024] ECC Lei 3

The churchwardens wished to introduce into the churchyard a statue of King Richard III (who is reputed to have attended mass at the church on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485), as part of a scheme promoted by a group called Bosworth 1485 to create a 12-mile sculpture trail linking sites connected with the battle. The Deputy Chancellor granted a faculty, being satisfied that there would be minimal harm to the setting of the church.