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Re St Bartholomew, Cresswell

Newcastle Consistory Court: Hodson Ch, April 2010 Memorial – confirmatory faculty – pastoral consequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2010

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Rector of Girton, Ely Diocesan Ecumenical Officer
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2010

The incumbent had received and approved an application for a memorial in the churchyard. The application stated that the proposed memorial was to be a ‘black granite wedge’, within the permitted dimensions for memorials in churchyards in the diocese. When installed it appeared that the memorial was in the shape of an open book and exceeded the permitted dimensions. The chancellor, in refusing the faculty sought, noted that, as well as exceeding the permitted dimensions, the memorial was of a design ‘generally considered inimical to churchyard locations’ and was ‘itself badly executed’. The chancellor, recognising the pastoral consequences, refrained from making a restoration order in the hope that an appropriate compromise could be reached between the petitioners and the incumbent. He noted that the family had not been well served by the monumental masonry firm, but that his criticisms of the firm could have no legal force as the firm concerned were neither parties to, nor gave evidence in, the case. [WA]