The court gave reasons for emergency faculties issued in the preceding days for the removal of two headstones and their safe storage in a secure and undisclosed location. The headstones marked the graves of two music-hall performers, both of whom died in 1962, and described their stage personae in terms that had come to be recognised as deeply racially offensive. Following public protests animated by the Black Lives Matter campaign, the parish had obscured the inscriptions with black dustbin bags, and sought a faculty to erect more substantial, wooden protection around the headstones. In granting that emergency faculty, the court indicated that it would be receptive to a further application for the immediate removal and storage of the headstones while their long-term future was considered; that further application had been made. Headstones belong to the heirs-at-law of the deceased. However, while their removal or alteration can only be undertaken under a faculty, such a faculty can be sought by parochial clergy, churchwardens, parochial church councils, archdeacons and parishioners, as well as the owners of the headstone.

The court directed that the headstones be removed and stored securely, remaining under the jurisdiction of the court and pending further order; that the archdeacon be made an additional party to the proceedings; that best endeavours be used to trace the heir-at-law of each of the deceased; and that a petition for a confirmatory faculty with detailed proposals for the future of the headstones be lodged within six months. [DW]