The incumbent and churchwarden sought a confirmatory faculty authorising the laying flat of 51 memorial stones, and a faculty authorising the future laying flat of any memorials found to be unsafe. The 51 memorials had been laid flat in 2015 on the grounds of safety after a health and safety survey of the churchyard. Letters of objection were written by 12 people in response to the public notice of the petition, although none chose to become parties opponent. The objectors questioned the necessity of laying the stones flat, queried the expertise of the petitioners to judge that necessity and protested about the lack of communication with next-of-kin. The petitioners stated that they had a policy of checking the stones annually and notifying the owners of any wobbly stones so that they could effect any necessary repairs. Only completely loose stones would be laid flat. The chancellor expressed concerns about the fact that correspondence had gone missing and about the inconsistency between the 2014 survey figures, where no stone had been identified as unsafe, and 2015 figures. He noted that there was much guidance available nationally for the safety testing of memorials. The petitioners had acted in good faith at all times and he was prepared to grant a confirmatory faculty for the temporary laying flat of the 51 stones. He granted a faculty for the laying flat of any headstone found to be in a dangerous condition for the remainder of 2017 but, given the distress caused by recent events, the laying flat of any future stones would only be allowed with the permission of the Archdeacon of Northumberland. [Catherine Shelley]