The Faculty Process
A faculty is a licence, permission or dispensation associated with additions and alterations to church fabrics or churchyards and is normally issued by the bishop of a diocese acting through his chancellor, or by archdeacon's orders.
The range of matters covered by faculties are wide, ranging from the provision of a processional cross, a mural tablet, a stained glass window, a statue, a choir stall, heating or lighting systems, or an organ, to the removal of an interment or even the provision of an entirely new church. A faculty is also necessary for the removal of anything that has been introduced to a church.
When an Anglican church wished to make alterations to the building and its fabric, a petition was made to the diocese for permission. A document called a citation was then issued, reporting the nature of the work to be carried out. The citation would be fixed to the door of the church and anyone who objected to the proposed work had fifteen days in which to file a complaint. If after that time no complaint had been made, a faculty would be drawn up granting permission for the work to take place and stating exactly what that work should be.
Plans which accompanied applications for faculties (or licences) for alterations to church buildings, submitted to the Diocese of Southwell (since 1884), provide detailed information about church architecture and design. They date from the late nineteenth century as part of the diocesan records. If a faculty has not survived in the diocesan series, sometimes a copy will be found amongst the parish records.
