The petitioners, being the incumbent and churchwardens, had instituted a clear-up of the graveyard, collecting unauthorised items left on or near graves and moving them to another location in the churchyard pending removal by their owners. They now sought a faculty for the disposal of unclaimed items. The Churchyard Regulations not only permitted but required the churchwardens to remove mementoes and other objects placed on or near a grave without the required authorisation.

The petition was opposed. The parties opponent relied on Re St Mary, Burghfield [2012] PTSR 593, Oxford Consistory Court, as authority for the proposition that, if any item was placed in a church or churchyard without permission, a faculty was required for its removal. The court regarded that proposition as correct, inasmuch as ‘removal’ meant ‘removal from the churchyard’. Items fixed to a memorial stone, or any kind of stone, chippings, kerb or fence around the memorial stone, should only be removed if and when a faculty had been granted. However, other items placed on or around a grave could be removed from the grave without a faculty, albeit that a faculty was required before such items were disposed of. Items that constituted litter could be removed and disposed of without faculty, provided that they could have no particular significance to anyone, or were not deliberately placed in the churchyard to be kept within it. The chancellor made clear that, even if the court was wrong about this, it would have granted a confirmatory faculty for the acts undertaken. For the future, however, the general guidance would be that a faculty should be sought before any general churchyard clear-up.

The parties opponent relied on an online campaign petition. The court noted that online petitions were a part of everyday existence but, apart from noting the number of signatures, it was not able to take the online petition into account. Rule 10(2) of the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules stipulated that an interested person might object to the grant of a faculty by sending a letter to the registry, stating their interest and the grounds of the objection. [DW]