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Re St Thomas, Kilnhurst

Sheffield Consistory Court: McClean Ch, 11 July 2012 Gravestones – replacement – duties of incumbent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2012

Ruth Arlow*
Affiliation:
Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2013

Fifty-five years after the deceased's death, the petitioner's aunt had replaced the gravestone over the deceased's grave with one that omitted reference to the deceased's wife and son. The deceased's son petitioned to remove the replacement and erect a replica of the original stone, which had unfortunately been destroyed. The incumbent at the time had made inadequate checks when granting the application for the second headstone and as such had not appreciated that it was a replacement stone. The chancellor noted that the owner of a headstone is the person who commissioned and paid for it and, upon their death, the heir-at-law of the person commemorated. Incumbents have a duty to make appropriate checks in relation to applications to erect a gravestone, to check that the applicant has standing to make the application. A faculty was issued to allow removal of the second headstone and its replacement with a replica of the original. [Catherine Shelley]