¹ A deliberately broad statement, made for the purposes of comparison with other systems. See Hill, M, ‘The Fabric and Contents of Church Buildings in the Anglican Communion’ in Fox, J (ed) Render unto Caesar— Church Property in Roman Catholic and Anglican Canon Law (Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas Rome, 2000) at p. 94.Google Scholar

² The word ‘redundant’ has acquired the special meaning in this context—a state of affairs decided upon, and declared to exist, by the Church. In reality, the operative decision is that of the parishioners, taken when they decide not to attend a church. or desert it for some other reason.Google Scholar

³ See Gorringe, T G, A Theology of the Built Environment (CUP, 2002);CrossRefGoogle ScholarInge, John, A Christian Theology of Place (Ashgate, 2003);Google Scholar and DrBrown's, Michael appendix to GS1528 (see below) at p. 107.Google Scholar

⁴ An example is the Alamo; the site is unimpressive, but it is enormously venerated by Texans.Google Scholar

⁵ See the annual reports of The National Trust, English Heritage, The Churches Conservation Trust, etc., where carefully recorded visitor-numbers are prominently quoted in any general report upon a property.Google Scholar

⁶ For example, MrJenkins, Simon states that, contrary to what he so often reads in churches. they are museums. See England's Thousand Best Churches (1999), p viii. See also Mr Nicholas Roe, on East Anglian churches:‘… local merchants joined the Church… in an orgy of conspicuous piety. The legacy is grandiose and poignant, a contradictory combination of wonderful church buildings that emerged from too much spare loot … Their hope of resurrection and local approval is immortalised here in stained glass … ’ (The Times, 4 October 2003). See also The Churches Conservation Trust: ‘So too do the Trust's churches speak loudly of the pride and respect [not, it should be noted, ‘faith’] of the many hundreds of thousand worshippers and parishioners for whom they have been a central part of their local as well as national identity over the centuries’, (Crispin Truman, Director, Review and Report 2002–2003, p 4).Google Scholar See also The Historic Environment: a Force for Our Future (DCMS & DTLR 2002) where tourism, education and ‘social growth’ are identified as the goals of conservation. In 58 pages, the word ‘church’ appears twice—once as a kind of building fit for inclusion among the 360,000 ‘defining images’ of England, and again with reference to Christ Church, Liverpool, which took the diocese ten years to dispose of. Christians may disagree; but in engaging with a ‘confused and floundering secularism’ (Rowan Williams), the Church needs to speak the language which the world will hear.Google Scholar

⁷ What purpose of the Church is served by the transfer is difficult to see. But it serves the purposes of the conservationists by providing a defendant worth powder and shot—at least until some DBF defends itself, saying that the preservation of disused churches is not a purpose of the Church, and therefore ultra vires.Google Scholar

⁸ The income whereof is now wholly inadequate to pay stipends—hence the change from ‘endowment’ to ‘pay-as-you-go’.Google Scholar

⁹ A church is often a treasured visual amenity which adds to the attractiveness of the locality and supports property values.Google Scholar

¹⁰ See the Local Government Act 2000, s 2(1): ‘Every local authority are (sic) to have power to do anything which they consider likely to achieve any one or more of the following objects … (c) the promotion or improvement of the environmental well-being of their area. … (4) The power under subsection (1) includes power for a local authority to … (b) give financial assistance to any person, (c) enter into arrangements or agreements with any person, (d) co-operate with, or facilitate or co-ordinate the activities of any person …’.Google Scholar

¹¹ A Measure for Measures: In mission and ministry GS 1528; adopted by General Synod on 10th February 2004, with a call for draft legislation.Google Scholar

¹² Ibid p 62, in Recommendation 41.