Irish Church Act, 1869

Enactments with respect to churches.

25. The following enactments shall be made with respect to churches vested in the Commissioners under this Act:

(1.) Where any church or ecclesiastical building or structure appears to the Commissioners to be ruinous, or if a church to be wholly disused as a place of public worship, and not suitable for restoration as a place of public worship, and yet to be deserving of being maintained as a national monument by reason of its architectural character or antiquity, the Commissioners shall by order vest such church, building, or structure in the secretary of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, to be held by such secretary, his heirs and assigns, upon trust for the Commissioners of Public Works, to be preserved as a national monument, and not to be used as a place of public worship . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3.) Where any church was in use at the time of the passing of this Act, and no application in respect thereof is made by the said representative body of the said Church within the said prescribed period, and such church was erected at the private expense of any person, the Commissioners shall, on the application of the person who erected such church, if alive, or of his representatives if he died since the year one thousand eight hundred, by order vest such church in the applicant or applicants, or in such person or persons as he or they may direct:

(4.) Where any church vested in the Commissioners under this Act is not disposed of under the preceding sections, the Commissioners shall dispose of such church and the site thereof in such manner as they think expedient: . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6.) No vesting order made under this section shall prejudice or affect the right of any person or persons to any vault or other place of burial within any church or ecclesiastical building, and every such vesting order shall be deemed to be subject thereto, and to all such other rights of sepulture therein as may be subsisting at the date of such order.