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Re Great Malvern Priory

Worcester Consistory Court: Mynors Ch, February 2009 Bells – party opponent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2009

Ruth Arlow
Affiliation:
Barrister, Deputy Chancellor of the Dioceses of Chichester and Norwich
Will Adam
Affiliation:
Rector of Girton, Ely Diocesan Ecumenical Officer
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Abstract

Type
Case Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2009

The petitioners sought to replace the bell frame in the tower of the Grade I listed church, re-hang the existing ring of eight bells and install two new bells. English Heritage objected to the proposal and asked to appear as judge's witness at the hearing. The chancellor ruled that, as they had formally objected, they could not appear as an impartial judge's witness but rather as a party opponent with a potential liability for costs. English Heritage proposed that the existing nineteenth-century frame be repaired rather than replaced and adapted to accommodate the new bells. The petitioners held that this option was more costly than the replacement of the frame but the chancellor, weighing the figures before him, was not convinced. Accordingly the petition was dismissed and the faculty refused. [WA]