Faculty Matters
Registry of the Consistory Court of the Diocese
The Registrar is Lionel Lennox and the Faculty Secretary is Hazel Bell. They may be contacted by writing to Diocesan Registry, Stamford House, Piccadilly, York YO1 9PP, by telephone on 01904 623487 or by e-mail to hab@denisontill.com.
For a full list of faculty documents issued by the Diocesan Registry please scroll down
Churches and Churchyards
A faculty or permission is required from the Court for all repair and other work done in churches and churchyards. This is a requirement of law and the procedure for application is prescribed by the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2000. It is for the Chancellor of the Consistory Court to determine each application (called a Petition for Faculty) after receiving advice from the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches and consideration of representations from statutory consultees or objections received in response to public notice.
The Archbishop of York and the Chancellor have provided a joint statement entitled This Church, its fixtures, furnishings and contents and the churchyard. Also published by the Chancellor is Guidance on Various Churchyard Matters concerning memorials and headstones, management and maintenance of the churchyard, burial and commemoration after cremation.
A Note of Guidance entitled When is a faculty required? is available to clergy and churchwardens in the Diocese of York. In addition the Chancellor has made Practice Directions setting out a List of Matters Not Requiring a Faculty and on the particular arrangements that apply to Trees in Churchyards. Advice on whether a faculty is required for particular proposals is available from the Archdeacon, the Secretary of the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches or the Diocesan Registrar. Guidance to parishes about the faculty procedure and forms of Petitions for Faculty (application forms) are available from the DAC Secretary and the Faculty Secretary. Petitioners (applicants who need to complete and sign the forms) are usually the minister in charge of the particular church and the two churchwardens.
Some recent Judgments of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of York are available - scroll down to the bottom of this page
Churchyard Plans
It is the obligation of every PCC of a church which has a churchyard which is used for burials or for the burial of cremated remains to hold and to keep up to date a plan of the churchyard. The Churchyard Plans and Regulations 1992 sets out the requirements for the plan.
Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches
The role of the DAC is to act as an advisory body on matters affecting churches in the Diocese and in particular to offer formal advice to the Chancellor of the Diocese on all petitions for faculties proposing alterations, repairs and additions to church buildings, their contents, their churchyards and curtilage structures.
York DAC has its own web pages at www.dioceseofyork.org.uk/dac. On the DAC website there are a number of Guidance Notes concerning the care of your church building. Having explored the DAC web pages should you require a petition for faculty form, or further information and advice you should contact either the Secretary (Phil Thomas 01904 699523; phil.thomas@yorkdiocese.org) or the Administrator (Dionne Saville 01904 699522; dionne.saville@yorkdiocese.org).
Emergency work
The Procedure for an application for a licence to proceed enables emergency works to be put in hand before a Faculty has been issued.
Memorials and Headstones in Churchyards
The placing of memorials marking burials in a churchyard require the authority of a faculty unless the proposed memorial comes within the Churchyard Memorial Rules 2005 in which case the minister in charge of the churchyard may give permission. Application to the minister must be made on the Application Form. A faculty is required for a memorial which is outside the Churchyard Memorial Rules 2005, and guidance to members of the public concerning the erection of such memorials is available from the Faculty Secretary.
The reservation of a space for the burial of a body or cremated remains
A faculty is required and guidance is available from the Faculty Secretary.
For guidance on any of the above, contact the Faculty Secretary either by writing to the Registry or e-mailing hab@denisontill.com.
The following documents may be downloaded, including application forms with notes of guidance about procedure and fees: