18 C O N T E X T 1 4 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 5 ANDREW MOTTRAM C of E buildings and their volunteers Without the often heroic efforts of the Church of England’s churchwardens and other volunteers, a significant part of England’s heritage would be in a precarious position. The Church of England comprises 42 dioceses, which are further subdivided into parishes, each with at least one church building.There are some 16,000 church buildings within the Church of England. Around three quarters (12,000) of the church buildings are listed (more than half Grade I or Grade II*). Most church buildings are in rural areas, where the proportion of Grade I and II* listed church buildings is much greater than in urban or suburban areas. Rural areas account for 75 per cent of the Church of England’s Grade I listed churches.1 Volunteers look after a significant proportion of the listed church buildings in England. The local church community has legal responsibility for the parish church building and its day-to-day care. In addition to the stipendiary parish clergy (vicar or rector) in whom the church building is vested, it is the volunteer churchwardens, elected by the residents of the parish, and the volunteer members of the parochial church council (PCC), elected by members of the congregation registered on the parish church’s electoral roll, who undertake the bulk of the work of looking after the parish churches of England.The numbers of churchwardens and PCC members looking after the church buildings represents a considerable body of people, possibly as many as 200,000. Some of these volunteers have considerable experience and valuable expertise in looking after historic assets, while others are complete beginners. There is no overarching supervisory body within the Church of England which is responsible for the portfolio of buildings as each church is the responsibility of the local clergy, churchwardens and PCC. However, these local managers are not at liberty to do what they like. Every consecrated church and nearly every dedicated church (licensed by the bishop for public worship), together with its surrounding land (curtilage) and contents, is under the control of the Faculty Jurisdiction, exercised by the chancellor of the diocese (usually a senior barrister experienced in planning law). These arrangements are enshrined in the Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 19912 which has the same legal status as an Act of Parliament. The local control of the jurisdiction is exercised through ‘Abandon hope all ye who would enter’. Churchwardens are wary of taking on buildings in this condition. (All photos: Andrew Mottram) References 1 Church of England Statistics for Mission, 2013 www.churchofengland. org/media/2112070/2013s tatisticsformission.pdf 2 www.legislation.gov.uk/ ukcm/1991/1/contents
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