THE Consistory Court of the diocese of Bath & Wells has reprimanded the stonemasons Allstone Memorials for a “wilful attempt” to override churchyard regulations by including an unauthorised design on a tombstone, and installing it on a grave within the churchyard of St Andrew’s, Chew Magna, without the approval of the Rector.
Sue Cox commissioned the memorial for the grave of her late husband, Tony. He had been an everyday worshipper on the church, and an energetic member of the British Legion after his service within the British Army. He had been involved for 15 years in collecting funds for the British Legion, and his family wanted the logo of a poppy included on the headstone.
The tombstone had a red poppy with a green stem. If that had been disclosed, the Rector would have refused permission, since churchyard regulations permitted only colouring in black, white, silver, and gold on memorials.
The diocesan Chancellor, the Worshipful Timothy Briden, said that the matter gave rise to “a crucial point of principle which needed to be addressed”. It arose from a report made to the registry by the Rector of Chew Magna, the Revd Richard Greatrex, regarding the memorial stone that had recently been installed. After consideration of the report, Mrs Cox was invited to make representation. The registry also wrote to Allstone Memorials, but received no reply.
Under the churchyard regulations, incumbents and other clergy have the facility delegated to them by the Chancellor to authorise the introduction right into a churchyard of memorials complying with the design and specifications set out within the regulations. For that purpose, the memorial mason had to finish an application, which the minister of the parish was answerable for assessing. It was implicit that the applying must discover any feature which may depart from the strict requirements of the regulations.
If the proposal complied with the regulations, permission was given under the minister’s delegated authority; if not, the applying was referred to the Chancellor. The minister’s powers were limited to applications that complied with the regulations, and work within the churchyard might be undertaken only after a memorial mason had received the minister’s permission.
The Chancellor said that the conduct of Allstone Memorials fell short in two respects. First, although the applying identified a “poppy design” as an ornamental feature, no indication was given of the intention to color it in red and green. Had this been properly disclosed, the Rector would have been certain to refuse permission and to refer the applying to the Chancellor.
Second, the applying reached the Rector’s office on 16 December 2024, and on 17 December 2024 (the Rector’s time without work), the memorial, with its colored poppy design, was installed within the churchyard, without permission.
There was, due to this fact, the Chancellor said, “an obvious breach of ecclesiastical law”. He continued: “Those within the business of providing memorials in churchyards owe duties each to their clients and to the church.”
Bereaved families were unlikely to pay attention to churchyard regulations, the Chancellor said, and, when confronted by the variability of styles, stones, and embellishments that appeared in catalogues and web sites, they may suppose that that they had an “unrestricted alternative”.
It was for the stonemason “to correct such misunderstandings and to be certain that the applying either complies fully with the churchyard regulations or identifies any features which fall outside the minister’s delegated authority”.
The duty owed by the stonemason to the Church was regulated by ecclesiastical law. There was no legal right to erect a tombstone or other memorial on a grave, regardless that out of respect for the deceased the marking of graves by a gravestone was generally permitted without query. It followed, the Chancellor said, “that if arrangements for the introduction of memorials in churchyards are abused by memorial masons the liberty to undertake work there could also be curtailed and even withdrawn”.
It was inside the minister’s power, ideally after consultation with the Chancellor, to ban a memorial mason from working within the churchyard of his or her parish on the grounds of failure to comply with the regulations, or other unacceptable conduct.
Mrs Cox had drawn attention to other contraventions of the churchyard regulations which she relied on to justify the colored poppy on the memorial to her husband. The Chancellor said, nonetheless, that such non-compliance couldn’t be relied on for that purpose. Either it was authorised on pastoral or other grounds as an appropriate departure from the regulations, or there was illegal contravention that had for some reason passed unnoticed or without challenge. Neither explanation was able to giving rise to a precedent whereby regulations might be disregarded.
Mrs Cox said that she was unaware of the regulation, and was guided by the memorial mason that the red poppy was acceptable. She said that she had “completely trusted the memorial mason for his guidance, expertise, and advice,” and the entire current situation had caused her and her family “an enormous degree of stress and anxiety”.
“Taken in isolation, the conduct of Allstone Memorials would demand a rigorous response,” the Chancellor said, but “the interests of Mrs Cox and her family [had] . . . to be given due weight; they were innocent parties caught up in an affair not of their making.”
Mr Cox’s grave was in a outstanding position within the churchyard, and the Rector was concerned that the colors stood out quite sharply. The Rector suggested that if there was a compromise it could be to remove the green.
“With some hesitation and without in any way condoning the unacceptable behaviour of Allstone Memorial,” the Chancellor decided that the Rector’s suggested compromise was “appropriate given the contribution made by Mr Cox to the community and the distress caused to Mrs Cox and her family”. That decision was made on compassionate grounds and was to not be interpreted as a precedent for future deviations from the regulations, the Chancellor said.
Mrs Cox was given 42 days to remove the green colouring and leave that a part of the design uncoloured or painted in a color permitted by the regulations. The red of the poppy design could remain unchanged.
