A judge has banned a family from having the Freemasons square and compass emblem etched into the gravestone of a Freemason who died after devoting much of his life to the organization.

William Kenneth Wilson, who died in July 2012 and who had devoted more than 40 years to Freemasonry is buried in the church yard at the 12th century Grade 1 listed St Oswald's Church at Dean in Cumbria.

His niece, Mrs Dorothy Stubbs, had appealed to the Church of England's Consistory Court, which has to approve matters such as what is put on gravestones, for permission to have the Freemason's square and compass emblem put on her uncle's stone.