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Alphabetical Index of all judgments on this web site as at 1 October 2022

Index by Dioceses of 2022 judgments on this web site as at 1 October 2022

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The proposal was to sell to the British Museum a valuable fifteenth century silver cup which had been used as a chalice, but which in recent years had been on loan to the Museum. There was one party opponent. The Chancellor granted a faculty permitting the sale of the cup on condition that it would be sold only to the British Museum. He directed that a photographic record of the cup be made, along with a short history and that it should be displayed in the church. He also directed as a condition of the faculty that a copy of the cup be made for liturgical use.

This was an appeal from a decision of the Chancellor of the Diocese of Peterborough, who had refused to grant a faculty for the sale of certain items of church silver. The reason for the proposed sale of the "redundant" silver had been to start a fund to meet the cost of building an extension to the church. The Court of Arches dismissed the appeal for the reasons given by the Chancellor in his judgment: the application to sell the silver was premature; there was no immediate financial crisis; planning permission had not yet been obtained (in fact planning permission had been refused two years earlier and no appeal had been made against the decision); there had not yet been any appeal for funds, and so one could not argue that the proceeds of a sale of the silver were vital to the completion of the project.

The Incumbent and Churchwardens sought permission to sell a Georgian silver flagon and matching alms dish dated 1774, a silver chalice and paten dated 1570 and the surviving part of an illuminated medieval missal. The Council for the Care of Churches suggested that the missal should be deposited in the County Records Office. This was agreed, and a faculty was granted in respect of that item. The silver had not been used for over 20 years and the proposed sale was with a view to starting a fund to cover the cost of an extension to the church, the cost of which would be in th region of £300,000. The Chancellor refused to grant a faculty for the sale. Church silver should only be sold as a last resort. The application to sell the silver was premature. There was no immediate financial crisis. Planning permission had not yet been obtained. In fact planning permission had been refused two years earlier and no appeal had been made against the decision. There had not yet been any appeal for funds, and so one could not argue that the proceeds of a sale of the silver were vital to the completion of the project.

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".

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.