Southwark Consistory Court: Petchey Dep Ch, June 2004

A faculty was sought to erect a monument to the former churchwarden and treasurer of the PCC, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Morris. The proposed memorial would be 6 foot high, 18 inches wide and 3 inches deep, of green slate with an inscription and an owl carved into it. The memorial would be the higher than any other monument in the churchyard and would not mark a grave, the ashes having been scattered on Limpsfield Common. The DAC was divided on the point of principle regarding the lack of a grave and concerned about setting a precedent in terms of height. The chancellor reviewed the Chancellor’s Guidance on Churchyard Memorials (2003) and concluded that the memorial would stick out, did not consider this was a case for making an exception to the Guidelines and was concerned about setting a precedent in terms of size. He concluded that the purpose of a churchyard was for the interment of human remains and a memorial absent remains would use up space in consecrated ground. The petition was rejected.

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(2005) 8 Ecc LJ 114