‘The bell tower door was barricaded': The 14th-century church at war over its priest

Telegraph

3 days ago

Not much happens in Malpas, a small Cheshire market town set in lush countryside near the border of Wales. With a stately medieval church at its centre, a population of roughly 1,600, and an overactive Facebook group, the biggest news is usually distributed by the parish newsletter and is no more scandalous than the cancellation of the number 41 bus. Recently, however, Malpas has been set alight by an explosive row between its rector and her parishioners – one that has made national headlines and torn the church and the town in two.
On an early summer's afternoon in the centre of town, the church is locked and the surrounding roads are quiet. With my notebook and a photographer in tow, a dog walker eyes me warily. The people of Malpas are not used to the media attention. Parochial disputes like this also do not usually make it out of the pages of the Church Times, but the heated battle for St Oswald's, a 14th-century church set atop a hill in the centre of Malpas, has unfolded in a spectacularly dramatic fashion.
Once you get people started on the subject, the floodgates open. A vocal group of parishioners and former lay people claim that the Rev Dr Janine Arnott, the rector in question, has taken what was a thriving rural parish – an increasing rarity in the Church of England – and put its flock asunder.
She is variously accused of banning individuals from the choir (it has since been disbanded entirely), removing the chief bellringer, barring access to the bell tower with 'broomsticks', and has reportedly overseen the dwindling of the congregation of around 60 to fewer than 10 people. The recent village-wide celebrations of VE Day in May this year were seen by many to be the last straw, as Arnott reportedly declined to allow a village choir to sing a rendition of I Vow To Thee My Country in the churchyard (her detractors claim that this was because some members were her ex-congregants).
'The story here is of a complete lack of accountability of a newly trained minister who is clearly having difficulty running her first parish,' claims one parishioner, Dr Gregory Williams, 60. 'Within a short period of time, the director of music resigned and the choir left. A while later, the tower captain was locked out of the bell tower with no explanation given and the bell tower door was barricaded. The bells fell silent. The congregation numbers soon collapsed, and at the current time, very little money is coming into the church,' he says.
In fact, the tower captain, Ben Kellett, had apparently found himself locked out of the tower after declining Arnott's request to sign a 'volunteer' agreement outlining his duties. Arnott had also asked Kellett for a list of churchgoers with keys to the tower and, it is claimed, took issue when he did not provide one.
Several parishioners wrote to the Bishop of Cheshire, the Right Rev Mark Tanner, hoping to persuade him to intervene, and even filed an 'informal' complaint, which wasn't upheld.
Now, an insurgent group of Malpas parishioners or allies – their identities remain unknown – have taken matters into their own hands, and Tanner has had to intervene after 'libellous' flyers signed from the 'Little Malpas People' were plastered around Chester Cathedral over Easter.
One of the flyers, glued to the exterior of the cathedral with permanent adhesive, said: 'Dear Bishop Mark. Please do your moral duty and protect your flock. We shouldn't have to keep toeing the line only to get demonised by you. It's disgusting. You wasted our time and kept your hands clean for three years now at our expense. You know it, as do we.' Notes were also left on the windscreens of cars nearby in envelopes that appeared to bear the seal of the Diocese of Chester.
It signified a nasty escalation of a dispute that has been raging since Arnott was appointed to take over the large rural parish in June 2022. In a letter sent to churchgoers, Tanner said the leaflets calling for her removal were 'anonymous, factually incorrect, libellous, and sought by forgery to impersonate a bishop.'
A separate letter to the parochial church council (PCC) from the diocesan legal team, which was leaked to the local newspaper, the Whitchurch Herald, last month, said Arnott is a victim of 'unlawful and inexcusable harassment'. One churchgoer, meanwhile, told The Telegraph that she has been so upset by the rector's behaviour that she can't speak about the dispute without getting a nosebleed.
The rift began with an unlikely argument over the Agnus Dei. In a meeting with the church choir in 2023 that has since become infamous locally, Arnott told them they could no longer sing this prayer (which often precedes Communion) in Latin as they had done for years, as this was against canon law. Diana Webber, a former safeguarding officer, resigned over this disagreement and Arnott's handling of relationships with parishioners. From the start, she was 'very concerned about [Arnott's] attitude,' Webber says, claiming that Arnott 'appeared to have taken a dislike to the choir.'
A PCC meeting was called shortly afterwards – unfortunately, on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, despite protestations from members of the council. The meeting became heated when Liane Smith, 65, a former PCC member, stood up and called a vote of no confidence over the rector's 'authoritarian' leadership style. It turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly given the scale of the row, that confidence was in short supply. '[Arnott] counted the votes and it was, if I recall correctly, 23 had no confidence, three had confidence in her, and six abstained,' Smith says (this was before the alleged exodus of church members took place). Arnott said she had been 'trying to run the church calmly in the face of strong opposition', according to minutes of the meeting.
In an apparent attempt to oust her, Smith then attempted to publish the minutes of the meeting (including the details of the vote against Arnott) in the parish newsletter, but says she was prevented from doing so by the rector. 'They were shortened minutes, but they had the salient facts in,' she says. 'Just to fit on an A5 page in the back of the parish news. And that was considered 'vexatious'.' Despite losing a vote of confidence, Arnott remained in post.
Smith was subsequently asked by Arnott to step down from her roles, including as the parish newsletter's editor (Arnott made clear, though, that she was welcome to continue worshipping at the church). 'I thought that was quite excessive and had nothing to do with the fact that I had published, or attempted to publish the minutes,' she says. 'I left the church at that point [… ] My husband and I have been married for 45 years and have been churchgoers for that whole time. Now we no longer go to any church.'
Most of the existing church laypersons eventually resigned or were asked to leave. They carry with them a range of grievances and accusations, some more reasonable than others. Among the complaints is the disbanding of a longstanding, talented church choir. One anonymous parishioner criticises Dr Arnott as 'one of those born-again Christians' who does not face the East (face the altar) for Communion. What is clear, however, is that deep ill-feeling runs on both sides.
The situation escalated this year with leaflets distributed to Malpas residents and plastered on Chester Cathedral calling for Arnott's removal. It is not known who is responsible. While some locals say this smear campaign has undermined their genuine concerns about the running of the Church – one said they were 'furious' as it 'gives them a bad name' – others are unrepentant. Williams describes the flyers as 'not an act of crime but actually a courageous act, a heartfelt cry for help from yet one more individual or group of people who feel that they are being let down by the Church of England.'
A spokesperson for the diocese of Chester says that parishes 'operate with a large degree of autonomy, provided they act within legal boundaries', adding: 'The Bishop and other diocesan figures have limited scope to intervene directly in parish matters. However, we have consistently offered support, guidance, and assistance throughout this situation as we would elsewhere.
'Whilst it would not be right to comment publicly on personal pastoral matters, wherever the diocese is aware of matters which require response, appropriate action is taken involving other authorities where necessary.
'The Bishop is aware of the concerns raised locally in and around St Oswald's and has been engaging through proper channels. Whilst we are not commenting further at this time in order to care for those involved, all are encouraged to remain in conversation, and support is available for anyone who wishes to access it.'
Arnott declined to comment.
Parish disputes – even those as bitter as this – are, sadly, increasingly common. In a curiously similar case in Wiltshire, for instance, a church choir refused to continue singing over a dispute with their vicar, Father Oliver Learmont, and his handling of relationships in the parish. A number of lay people resigned.
Last year, Church of England clergy warned that some vicars were being bullied out of their posts by parishioners, who were taking over PCC meetings and launching malicious email campaigns against them. Some in Malpas feel the discord in parish churches – which have, for generations, been the backbone of the Church of England – points to a lack of direction in the organisation as a whole. That appears unlikely to be rectified any time soon, with the Church awaiting the appointment of a new archbishop of Canterbury, seven months after Justin Welby announced that he planned to stand down over failures in the handling of an abuse scandal.
'The state of the Church of England at the moment is very sad,' says one churchgoer. 'They can choose a Pope in a fortnight. How much longer do we have to wait for directions from the top?' In the meantime, it's clear there will be no winners in Malpas' unholy civil war.