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 in 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 a regular worshipper at the church, and an active member of the British Legion after his service in the British Army. He had been involved for 15 years in collecting funds for the British Legion, and his family wanted the emblem 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 “an important 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 power delegated to them by the Chancellor to authorise the introduction into a churchyard of memorials complying with the design and specifications set out in the regulations. For that purpose, the memorial mason had to complete an application, which the minister of the parish was responsible for assessing. It was implicit that the application must identify any feature that might 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 application was referred to the Chancellor. The minister’s powers were limited to applications that complied with the regulations, and work in the churchyard could 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 application identified a “poppy design” as a decorative feature, no indication was given of the intention to colour it in red and green. Had this been properly disclosed, the Rector would have been bound to refuse permission and to refer the application to the Chancellor.
Second, the application reached the Rector’s office on 16 December 2024, and on 17 December 2024 (the Rector’s day off), the memorial, with its coloured poppy design, was installed in the churchyard, without permission.
There was, therefore, the Chancellor said, “an obvious breach of ecclesiastical law”. He continued: “Those in the business of providing memorials in churchyards owe duties both to their clients and to the church.”
Bereaved families were unlikely to be aware of churchyard regulations, the Chancellor said, and, when confronted by the variety of styles, stones, and embellishments that appeared in catalogues and websites, they might suppose that they had an “unrestricted choice”.
It was for the stonemason “to correct such misunderstandings and to ensure that the application 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, even though out of respect for the deceased the marking of graves by a gravestone was generally permitted without question. It followed, the Chancellor said, “that if arrangements for the introduction of memorials in churchyards are abused by memorial masons the freedom to undertake work there may be curtailed or even withdrawn”.
It was within the minister’s power, ideally after consultation with the Chancellor, to prohibit a memorial mason from working in 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 coloured poppy on the memorial to her husband. The Chancellor said, however, that such non-compliance could not be relied on for that purpose. Either it was authorised on pastoral or other grounds as an acceptable departure from the regulations, or there was illegal contravention that had for some reason passed unnoticed or without challenge. Neither explanation was capable of giving rise to a precedent whereby regulations could 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 whole current situation had caused her and her family “a huge 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 prominent position in the churchyard, and the Rector was concerned that the colours stood out quite sharply. The Rector suggested that if there was a compromise it might 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 not to 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 part of the design uncoloured or painted in a colour permitted by the regulations. The red of the poppy design could remain unchanged.
