Steps to be taken for laying out and throwing open to the Public a Disused Churchyard or Burial-ground, and for its Maintenance by the London County Council, or the Local Authority. (Reprinted from the Annual Report of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, 83, Lancaster Gate, W.)

1. Decide how much assistance is to be sought from the London County Council, or the Local Authority, that is the Vestry or District Board, if in London, or the Urban or Rural Sanitary Authority, if in the provinces, in the carrying out of the scheme. Thus, in approaching any of these bodies, it should be considered—

(a) Whether they are to be asked to lay out the ground, or only to take it over for maintenance after it has been laid out by others, e.g., the Association.

(b) Whether they may require, or can have the freehold, or only a limited interest, such as a lease of the ground.

2. The Incumbent or Owner will, when the consent of the Local Authority or London County Council has been obtained, be required to execute a Deed transferring the Ground to the Local Authority, or the Council, upon the terms and conditions that have been mutually arranged.

3. "Consecrated Grounds require a Faculty." In the case of a Consecrated Ground, a Faculty must be obtained from the Bishop of the Diocese by the Local Authority, or the London County Council, as the case may be, permitting such body to exercise powers of management over it; and should it be needful to move tombstones, such Faculty must also contain a license to do so, otherwise they cannot be moved (vide para. 5).

4. The Consistory Court of the Diocese usually requires the following preliminary steps to have been taken, before it will hear an application for a Faculty:—

(a) The preparation of a plan and detailed statement of what it is proposed to do to the ground, and of an estimate of the expense involved.

(b) The submission of plan, statement, and estimate, to a meeting of the Vestry of the Parish, and the passing of a resolution (which should be carefully prepared) by the Vestry approving the plan, statement, estimate, and application for a Faculty.

(c) The approval of plan, statement, and estimate, by the Local Authority or the London County Council, as the case may be.

(d) The presentation of a petition for a Faculty to the Bishop or his Consistory Court, by the Local Authority or the Council, as the case may be, setting out the scheme, accompanied by the plan, statement, and resolutions.

(e) This petition should in the ordinary course have the concurrence of the Incumbent, and he may be, and it is usually desirable that he should be, a party to it.

5. "Removal of Tombstones in consecrated and unconsecrated grounds." In the case of any disused churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground, whether consecrated or not, if tombstones are to be moved, at least three months before any tombstone or monument is moved the following steps have to be taken:—

(a) A statement shall be prepared sufficiently describing by the name and date appearing thereon the tombstones and monuments standing or being in the ground, and such other particulars as may be necessary;

(b) Such statements shall be deposited with the clerk of the County Council or Local Authority, and shall be open to inspection by all persons;

(c) An advertisement of the intention to remove or change the position of such tombstones and monuments shall be inserted three times at least in some newspaper circulating in the neighbourhood of the burial-ground, and such advertisement shall give notice of the deposit of such statement, as is hereinbefore described, and of the hours within which the same may be inspected;

(d) A notice in terms similar to the advertisement shall be placed on the door of the church (if any) to which such churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground is attached, and shall be delivered or sent by post to any person known or believed by the County Council or Local Authority to be a near relative of any person whose death is recorded on any such tombstone or monument.

"Ditto in consecrated grounds only." In the case of any consecrated ground a Faculty is also required (vide page 3), but no application for a Faculty can be made until the expiration of one month at least after the appearance of the last of such advertisements.

Provided that on any application for a Faculty nothing shall prevent the Bishop from directing or sanctioning the removal of any tombstone or monument, if he is of opinion that reasonable steps have been taken to bring the intention to effect such removal to the notice of some person having a family interest in such removal.

"Ditto in unconsecrated grounds only." In the case of an unconsecrated burial-ground, no Faculty is requisite either for management or for moving tombstones.

N.B.—Faculties, which only emanate from the Courts of Diocesan Bishops, cannot apply to burial-grounds, unless consecrated by Bishops of the Established Church.

6. "Playing of Games."The playing of any games or sports is not allowed in any churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground in or over which any estate, interest, or control is acquired under section five of the Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1881.

Provided that—

(a) In the case of consecrated ground, the Bishop, by any license or Faculty granted under the Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1881, or this Act (Open Spaces Act, 1887), and

(b) In the case of any churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground, which is not consecrated, the body from which any such estate, interest, or control as aforesaid is acquired may expressly sanction any such use of the ground, and may specify such conditions as to the extent or manner of such use.

If an Incumbent or owner wishes to lay out a Disused Churchyard or Burial-ground, and to maintain it himself directly or by his agents, e.g., the Association, no application to the Local Authority, or London County Council, is required, and if it is a consecrated ground but no tombstones are moved, no Faculty or consent of any other person is required. Any arrangement of this nature an Incumbent may make is not, however, binding on his successor. In unconsecrated grounds no Faculties are needed.