Villagers’ fury as barrister who ‘rarely attends church’ books place in graveyard
Church court overrules congregation’s case that bookings were barred and couple lived outside parish
A BARRISTER has won a dispute with villagers over reserving space for his grave in a churchyard, despite their claims that he never came to church.
John and Heather Jones applied to be buried in St Wilfrid’s churchyard in Standish, near Wigan, despite living five miles away, outside the parish.
Locals objected to the reservation, saying that Mr Jones did not attend the church as much as he claimed and that there was a policy against reserving spaces in the churchyard.
Many of them said they would like to have reserved spaces themselves, but had not done so because they believed the rules did not allow it. They added that the application would allow others to reserve graves, filling up the churchyard, which has just 90 slots left.
Mr Jones, 58, was baptised and confirmed at the church and the couple were married in the church in 2000. He also lived in the parish between 1959 and 1995. His grandparents and father are buried in the same churchyard. John Bullimore, Chancellor of the Diocese of Blackburn, said the QC, who wanted to reserve spots for himself and his wife, should not be penalised even if they do not attend the church regu- larly. Mr Bullimore, a judge in the Church of England’s Consistory Court, said there were “no extra Brownie points” to be gained by frequent church attendance.
He said he believed the testimony of the rector, Reverend Canon Andrew Holliday, who said the couple had gone from being “occasional” to weekly attendees since their son was confirmed.
He added that because the couple were on the parish electoral roll, they had the same rights to be buried in the churchyard as residents. He said villagers’ belief that the parish had a policy against reserving grave spaces was “mistaken” and that there was “no such policy that I can implement”.
Mr Bullimore added that his judgment should be “carefully explained” to the congregation to avoid further misunderstanding.
Many Church of England churchyards are now full and are not accepting any more burials.