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Re St Michael, Cornhill

London Consistory Court: Seed Ch, August 2010 Bells – replacement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2010

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Vicar of St Paul, Winchmore Hill
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2011

The incumbent and churchwardens sought a faculty to dispose of nine of the church's ring of 12 bells for hanging elsewhere, to retain three as chiming bells and to introduce 12 new bells to the tower, with related ancillary works. The overall effect would be to have a ring of bells with true harmonic tuning which were lighter and easier to ring and which would cause two-thirds less movement in the tower during ringing. The project was costly, but significant funds were in place to cover the cost, including the trade-in value of the nine bells to be disposed of. There were a large number of individual objectors, and objections included suggestions that the existing ring of bells was the only ‘old style’ ring in the vicinity and that the bells had been originally cast, some recast and all maintained by one bell foundry, whereas the contract for the new bells had been given to another foundry. In granting the faculty the chancellor found inter alia that the claims about the unique ‘old style’ ring of bells were untrue and pointed to other examples in the City of London and nearby. In addition it was not within the jurisdiction of the court to direct how a private donor should spend their money, nor to direct petitioners to select any particular commercial company to carry out the works. [WA]