THE Consistory Court of the diocese of Liverpool has granted permission for a war memorial to be moved from the porch of All Saints’, Childwall, and to be repositioned on the wall of the west end of the church.
All Saints’ is a Grade I listed constructing, and is the oldest church in Liverpool, dating back to the 14th century. It is situated within the Childwall Abbey conservation area. The churchyard comprises graves of notable significance, including that of the primary bishop of Liverpool, Bishop John Ryle. As the oldest church in the town, All Saints’ has many visitors and research students from the nearby Liverpool Hope University.
The porch is the foremost entrance, and is situated on the south side of the church. The war memorial is within the form of a big picket wall cabinet with hinged doors. The names of 33 of the fallen within the Great War were listed on the inside of the doors of the memorial, each with the yr, between 1915 and 1919, through which they died. The names of 25 who fell within the Second World War were inscribed on the foremost face of the memorial, with a cross and the words “Greater love hath no man than this”.
The proposal to maneuver the war memorial was supported by the DAC, in addition to the parishioners, and there had been no objections in response to public notices. Nevertheless, despite the incontrovertible fact that the petition for the school was unopposed, the Consistory Court was required, by law, to undertake an assessment of the extent of any harm to the importance of the church as a constructing of special architectural or historic interest, which could result from the implementation of the proposals in the appliance for the school.
If the carrying out of those proposals would lead to harm to the constructing, the court then had to think about whether any resulting public profit from the grant of the school outweighed the harm. In reaching its decision, the court also needed to have regard to the part played by the church as a neighborhood centre of worship and mission.
The Deputy Chancellor, District Judge Ian Knifton, said that he had little difficulty in answering that query, and was satisfied that the proposals wouldn’t lead to significant harm. On the contrary, the proposal would “profit the church as not only will the memorial now not be exposed to the weather”, it will even be a “point of interest in Remembrance services in addition to for quiet reflection in remembering those that made the final word sacrifice within the two world wars”.
The Deputy Chancellor said that, if he were mistaken in that assessment, he was satisfied that the “harm” can be “negligible”. There can be no damage to the church constructing if the work of repositioning the memorial was undertaken by a professional contractor. In its proposed latest position, the war memorial would “not detract from the great thing about the inside of the church”, the Deputy Chancellor said.
The faculty was granted on the idea that the works were undertaken in accordance with the recommendations of the DAC, and were accomplished inside three months.
