The application before the court was for a faculty to re-order a Grade II listed Victorian church by removing the choir stalls and pulpit in order to create a nave dais and altar. The Parochial Church Council, Diocesan Advisory Committee and archdeacon supported the proposals but removing the choir stalls and pulpit was opposed by the Victorian Society and the local authority. The chancellor found that the re-ordering would cause significant harm to the Victorian interior. The Victorian Society and local authority had suggested a compromise of retaining a row of choir stalls on each side of the church and moving the pulpit rather than removing it. The chancellor granted the faculty, noting that the pulpit was not original to the church and the choir stalls were unremarkable; their merit was in the overall Victorian ambience, which would not be preserved by the compromise and would leave items looking like museum pieces. The chancellor expressed sympathy with the petitioners’ views that either the integrity of the Victorian church was to be maintained by leaving the pulpit and choir stalls as they were or that the full re-ordering took place. The chancellor held that the harm was outweighed by the missional and pastoral need. [Catherine Shelley]