Headstones at St Margaret's Churchyard, Rottingdean Chancellor of the Diocese judgement published
The Chancellor of the Diocese of Chichester, The Worshipful Mark Hill QC, has granted a faculty for the recutting of two headstones temporarily removed last year from a Rottingdean churchyard at the height of Black Lives Matter protests.
The two headstones mark the graves of the well-known music hall artistes G H Elliott and Alice Banford. They made reference to their stage personas and included a term deemed to be both inappropriate and offensive.
In law, a headstone belongs to the heir-at-law of the person commemorated. The Parish consulted the heirs-at-law and it was agreed that an application would be made to the Chancellor for a faculty permitting the reinstatement of the headstones but with the inscription recut.
The Archdeacon of Brighton and Lewes, Martin Lloyd Williams, today thanked everyone for playing their part in bringing this issue to what he hoped everyone would regard as a successful and happy conclusion: "We are grateful to everyone who has worked with the heirs-at-law and the parish in dealing with what was at the time a very challenging situation."
He added: It is hoped that this outcome will mean that the quiet serenity of the churchyard will be preserved and that the final resting places of these two much-loved individuals will continue to be respected.
The Court's judgment can be read in full Here