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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

Bells

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The petitioners wished to display a redundant treble church bell, dating from the 1630s, at the base of the church tower, notwithstanding the risk that it may be stolen from the church, which was left open during the day. (The Chancellor decided to give an anonymous judgment, so as not to identify the church.) There were differences of opinion between the churchwarden, the Diocesan Senior Church Buildings Officer and the Diocesan Bells Adviser, as to the degree of risk and whether the bell should be displayed at ground level or on the first floor of the tower, in view of the risks of theft. The Chancellor, after considering judgments discussing the risks of church artifacts being stolen, determined that retaining a treasured artifact would always carry some degree of risk, wherever the artifact was retained. He therefore gave the petitioners to choice of retaining the redundant bell on display either on the ground floor or on the first floor of the tower.

The proposal was to augment the ring of eight bells to ten. There were four letters of objection. Dealing with the objections, the Chancellor determined that there were no grounds for suggesting that the augmentation would put additional stress on the tower; there had been no failure by the Parochial Church Council to communicate the proposals to parishioners; and financial matters were for the Parochial Church Council to decide. He was satisfied that the proposal was appropriate and desirable and he granted a faculty.

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.

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.

The Parochial Church Council wished to restore and retune the church's eight bells. The Church Buildings Council ('CBC') opposed the retuning of the 6th bell, as it was thought to predate 1600, and was therefore on the CBC's list of bells which should be preserved because of their historical importance. The evidence was that the 6th bell had already had modifications made to it in 1907, and had been badly retuned at that time; also, the retuning would involve the shaving of only a minimal amount of metal from the inner surface of the bell. The Chancellor granted a faculty.

The petitioner, the Senior Church Buildings Officer for the Diocese of Blackburn, proposed the removal of the eight bells from the redundant church of St. James Church Kirk, and their reinstallation in the church of St. Cuthbert Over Kellet. St. James Church Kirk had been made redundant in 2016, since when it had been transferred to the Church Kirk Regeneration Trust for community use. Although there were nine objectors (none of whom became parties opponent), the Chancellor granted a faculty. He considered that the consistory court should favour a proposal that would "lead to bells being rung to signify the presence of a worshipping church in the community, and to invite local people to worship there, over one that does not".

The assistant curate and churchwardens applied for a faculty to have the church bell restored and rehung. The bell had been removed to the premises of a bell maintenance company in 2016, with the Archdeacon's permission, as it had become unsafe. A legacy had become available to meet most of the cost of the repair and rehanging. There was one objector, who did not become a party opponent. The Chancellor saw no substance in the grounds of objection and granted a faculty.

Faculty granted to authorise new bell frame and twelve bells, re-use of three old bells as chiming bells, and disposal of remaining nine old bells. Numerous objectors.

Refusal by the Deputy Chancellor to permit the tuning of eighteenth-century bells from the Rudhall foundry in Gloucester, on the basis that no sufficient case had been made. Chancellor: "Because it is irreversible, tuning of a complete old ring is a serious matter, not merely to be accepted ‘on the nod’ where a complete old ring is concerned. Where a good case is made, there may need to be a balance struck between the asserted needs of the present and the desirability of preserving the past.  But where no case is made at all, there can be no reason to destroy the heritage."

A faculty for the restoration of the church's five bells and the addition of a sanctus bell had been granted in 2014. Subsequently, a person referred to in the judgment as 'the Churchwarden' had arranged for a sixth bell to be installed without the authority of a faculty, having advised the bell founder that the sixth bell had been authorised. After the installation became known to the Registry, an application was made for a Faculty to amend the 2014 faculty to provide for the extra bell. Apart from the work having been done without faculty, the Deputy Chancellor found that a minute of the PCC produced by the Churchwarden and agreeing to the installation was 'unreliable'. The Chancellor also determined that the Vicar should take some blame for allowing the installation without faculty authorisation. The Chancellor therefore ordered the costs to be paid as to two-thirds by the Churchwarden and one-third by the Vicar.