Faculties
Before you make any changes to your church building or land, you need to check whether or not you need a faculty from the Chancellor.
For information on the current code of practice, the information which should accompany a petition, and any questions relating to the care of church buildings, please contact the DAC secretary.
The faculty system is governed by the Rules of Diocesan Court which are at the end of volume 2 of the
Church in Wales Constitution:
Where faculty procedure applies none of the following shall be commenced without the grant of a faculty:
(a) any change in use of a building or land;
(b) any alteration, addition or repair to, decoration, re-decoration or demolition of, or removal from, the fabric of a church;
(c) any alteration or addition to land, including the construction of new buildings;
(d) the introduction, removal, alteration or repositioning of, furniture, fittings, murals, monuments (including gravestones), plate and other precious objects, into, from, or in, a church or land, or the repair of any such furniture, fittings, murals, monuments, plate or objects;
(e) the alteration or addition to an inscription on any monument or gravestone;
(f) the acquisition of a permanent or exclusive right of burial in any grave, grave space, vault or tomb; and
(g) the removal of a corpse, or human or cremated remains, from an existing grave, vault, tomb or plot.
Unauthorised work on a church which is a Listed Building may be in breach of state legislation as well as the Rules of Diocesan Court.
Where work is urgently necessary in the interest of safety or health, or for the preservation of the building, the Archdeacon may give permission for the minimum measures reasonably necessary to be carried out. A petition for a faculty must then be submitted to resolve the issue.