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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

Re St. Radegunda Grayingham [2023] ECC Lin 2

The petitioner wished to have the cremated remains of his wife exhumed from just outside the south nave wall, as it was proposed to build a small extension to the church over the site of the interment. The petitioner's reason for making the application was that he wished his wife's ashes to be moved to a part of the churchyard where his own ashes could in due time be buried with hers. The Chancellor determeined that this was an appropriate case in which to grant a faculty. 

Re St. Richard Aldwick [2014] Mark Hill Ch. (Chichester)

Faculty granted for the installation of an electronic organ to replace a pipe organ in an unlisted 1930s church.

Re St. Richard Crowborough [2014] Mark Hill Ch. (Chichester)

The church of St Richard, Crowborough, within the parish of All Saints Crowborough, dates from 1956 and is unlisted. It is a utilitarian building serving as both a chapel and a community hall. The petitioners sought a faculty to carry out the following work, in order to make the church more suitable for furthering mission to the local community, particularly to young children: removal of timber stage to create more storage space; replacement of exterior sign and notice board; replacement of chairs; fitting of new suspended ceiling; replacement of windows with UPVC double glazed units. Two people gave notice of objection, but did not wish to be parties to the proceedings. In granting the faculty, the Chancellor said: "I am satisfied that the works proposed to this unremarkable and utilitarian building are unobjectionable. The petitioners have discharged the burden of demonstrating that the proposals, including the removal of the stage, are desirable, if the effective ministry of this small but vibrant church community is to realise its potential."

Re St. Saviour Nottingham [2022] ECC S&N 1

In January 2018, a faculty was granted for some reordering work within the church. The works included the installation of some softplay equipment, which was to be managed by KM Play Ltd., a company limited by guarantee. One of the conditions of the faculty was that, before commencement of the works, there should be binding legal obligations in place between the church and KM Play. This condition was not complied with, but softplay activities took place (apart from during certain periods of the pandemic). The present proceedings were to consider an amendment to the faculty, to authorise and approve a proposed agreement between the church and KM Play. The Chancellor granted a faculty approving the proposed agreement, subject to a condition that it should come to an end on 30 September 2024. If the church wished to renew the agreement, it would need to apply for another amending faculty before then, at which time the operation of the agreement during the intervening period would be reviewed.  (Other conditions required the company to obtain certain confirmations from the Charity Commission, HMRC and the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer.)

Re St. Saviour Ringley Stoneclough [2018] ECC Man 3

The parents of a stillborn baby wished to erect on their baby's grave a heart-shaped blue pearl granite stone memorial measuring 27 inches by 21 inches by 3 inches. Stars were to be etched into the edge of the memorial and a heart etched underneath the proposed inscription. There were three other heart-shaped memorials in the churchyard, which had not been authorised by faculty in accordance with the churchyards regulations, but the Chancellor decided that this did not justify him granting a faculty for a further heart-shaped memorial.

Re St. Saviour Smallthorne [2013] Stephen Eyre Ch. (Lichfield)

Faculty granted for polycarbonate window guards, notwithstanding that the Diocesan Advisory Committee had not recommended them, but had recommended wire mesh guards instead.

Re St. Saviour Smallthorne [2016] ECC Lic 3

The cremated remains of a father and his son had been interred in adjacent plots. When the mother died, her cremated remains were interred (due to the error of the burial authority which maintained the churchyard) in the grave of her son, rather than with the remains of her husband, as had been her wish. The next of kin proposed that the exhumation of the remains of the father and reinterment in the grave of his wife and son would be preferable to the exhumation of the remains of the mother and reinterment with the remains of her husband. The Chancellor granted a faculty on this basis: "This is an appropriate and desirable result creating as it does a family grave containing the remains of all three members of that family."

Re St. Saviour Upper Sunbury [2019] ECC Lon 1

The Chancellor granted a faculty for the demolition of some unsightly temporary structures at the east end of the unlisted church and their replacement with permanent brick built structures to accommodate a commercial kitchen, a crèche, lavatories and a food bank.

Re St. Saviour Westgate-on-Sea [2018] ECC Can 2

The Commissary General granted a faculty to replace the existing cupboard, worktop, sink, tap and water heater in the Vestry.

Re St. Sebastian Wokingham [2021] ECC Oxf 1

The Huddersfield & District Army Veterans Association applied for permission to remove of the memorial cross of the Association’s founder, who died in 1907, from the churchyard  to the Association’s military plot at Edgerton Cemetery, Huddersfield. At some time in the past, the memorial had been moved from the founder's grave to the churchyard wall, to facilitate the laying of a path over the grave. The Deputy Chancellor refused to grant a faculty: 'I am not convinced either that the removal of the Monument is necessary to celebrate the memory of Major Welsh at the Huddersfield plot, or that the benefits in doing so would outweigh the harm in removing it from St Sebastian’s churchyard.'