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Re St Michael and All Angels, Bampton

Exeter Consistory Court: McFarlane Ch, 17 April 2023[2023] ECC Exe 1Reredos – architectural and historic interest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Jack Stuart
Jack Stuart*
Affiliation:
Barrister, Ropewalk Chambers, Nottingham, UK
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Extract

This Grade 1-listed mediaeval church had a substantial Georgian reredos. It dominated the east end of the church, hiding three-quarters of the plain-glazed east window. In 2012 a faculty permitted its temporary removal to another location in the church while essential works were done to the chancel. Following this, the consequent increase in light coming from the windows was welcomed by petitioners, and fragments of medieval wall painting were discovered behind plasterwork which the reredos had previously protected. The petitioners now wished to make the temporary removal of the reredos permanent, relocating it to hang above the west door.

Type
Case Note
Information
Ecclesiastical Law Journal , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , May 2024 , pp. 230 - 231
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Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2024

This Grade 1-listed mediaeval church had a substantial Georgian reredos. It dominated the east end of the church, hiding three-quarters of the plain-glazed east window. In 2012 a faculty permitted its temporary removal to another location in the church while essential works were done to the chancel. Following this, the consequent increase in light coming from the windows was welcomed by petitioners, and fragments of medieval wall painting were discovered behind plasterwork which the reredos had previously protected. The petitioners now wished to make the temporary removal of the reredos permanent, relocating it to hang above the west door.

The proposal was not supported by Historic England, the Georgian Society or the CBC, and the DAC did not recommend it. There was said to be strong heritage arguments for reinstating the fine, and now rare, reredos; the proposed replastering of the chancel and improved lighting would better address the light issue. However, the influx of natural light, the reinstated mediaeval simplicity of the chancel and the revealed wall paintings commended the proposal.

Adopting the Duffield framework, the court considered the reredos within the context of a church building that was essentially mediaeval. Contrary to the views of Historic England (whose views focused largely on the reredos itself, rather than the building), its removal would be of overall benefit to the special architectural interest of the building. However, it would cause some harm to its special historical interest, as the removal of a historical reredos from its proper place; but it would remain intact and in the church. On balance, the architectural benefit outweighed the historical harm.

While little weight was given to the petitioners’ arguments against considering alternative means of achieving light in the chancel, the court found that there was a clear and convincing justification for the proposal. However, detailed plans for hanging the reredos at the west end, and for the conservation and restoration of plaster in the chancel, must be developed before a faculty could issue.