Author Archives: Richard Harwood QC

About Richard Harwood QC

Richard Harwood OBE QC is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers. He is the author of Historic Environment Law published by IAL.

Church court refuses to allow Jesus College, Cambridge to remove memorial

Posted on: March 28, 2022 by Richard Harwood QC

In The Rustat Memorial, Jesus College, Cambridge [2022] ECC Ely, the college authorities proposed to remove a memorial to a seventeenth century benefactor, Tobias Rustat, from the grade I listed chapel. The concern was Rustat’s involvement in the slave trade, as an investor in two companies, and the effect which retaining his memorial in the […]

Consistory Court denies request to examine “Shakespeare” skull

Posted on: November 6, 2015 by Richard Harwood QC

“Alas poor William… or whoever.” There is a local tradition that a skull in a vault in St Leonard’s Church, Beoley (which is now part of Redditch) is that of William Shakespeare. Two late Nineteenth Century articles said that Dr Frank Chambers, a local doctor, heard at a dinner at Ragley Hall in 1794 that […]

Reforms to Ancient Monuments and Listed Buildings law in Wales

Posted on: May 11, 2015 by Richard Harwood QC

The Historic Environment (Wales) Bill was introduced into the Welsh Assembly on 1st May 2015. It proposes a variety of changes to listed building, monuments and historic environment law. These include for listed buildings: A requirement to consult on the proposed listing of buildings Interim protection during such consultations, and compensation if the building is not […]

Court warns against sale of Church of England treasures without authorisation

Posted on: September 26, 2014 by Richard Harwood QC

In a strongly worded judgment, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Gloucester, June Rodgers, has warned priests and the art market against sales of property in churches without a faculty. A faculty, granted by the Chancellor of the Diocese, is required for works to parish churches, churchyards and ‘articles appertaining thereto’: see the Care of […]

Faculties for the removal of objects from churches

Posted on: July 7, 2014 by Richard Harwood QC

The Church of England’s faculty jurisdiction extends to objects within a church even if they are not attached to the building or are owned by another person. To that degree it goes beyond listed building control. In Re St Lawrence, Oakley with Wootton St Lawrence, the Arches Court of Canterbury considered the attempted sale of an […]

Challenge over reburial of Richard III dismissed

Posted on: May 23, 2014 by Richard Harwood QC

In a lengthy, elegant and literary judgment the High Court has dismissed the challenge to the decision to rebury King Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. A three-judge Divisional Court of Lady Justice Hallett, Mr Justice Ouseley and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ruled that there had been no duty on the Secretary of State for Justice to […]

Kent shipwreck divers plead guilty

Posted on: May 20, 2014 by Richard Harwood QC

David Knight and Edward Huzzey, both from Sandgate, admitted to 19 offences between them, contrary to section 236 and section 237 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 for having failed to declare valuable items taken from shipwrecks. Items were taken from shipwrecks off the Kent coast, with the first known objects removed in 2001. The […]