THE Commissary Court of Canterbury has given permission for work to restart on an extension to a church in Kent after hearing that archaeological remains would be unaffected.

St Mary's, Kenardington, near Ashford, was rebuilt after being partially destroyed by lightning in 1559. The church now plans to erect a "pentice", or covered walkway, linking the original circular tower to the church, and to demolish a blocked-up archway.

When the Commissary-General, Morag Ellis QC, made a site visit to the church last month to consider a faculty application, she was "surprised and disturbed" to discover that work had already begun, and ordered it to stop (News, 24 May).

In a new judgment, however, issued on Wednesday, Ms Ellis said that the work can go ahead: "It appears that much of any archaeological interest in the area of the footprint of the pentice was lost as a result of works undertaken some time ago."

The judgment indicates that archaeologists had concluded that the proposed floor levels in the new development would "rest well above" any limited remaining intact deposits.

"The effect of unblocking the arches in the north wall of the nave, and the east wall of the tower, would be to reunite the nave and tower by the construction of the new extension on the footprint of part of the original building," Ms Ellis said in her judgment. "I consider that this linkage would be historically appropriate, and would enable a better appreciation of the way in which the church was laid out before the 16th-century fire."

She praised the proposals as "an ingenious design solution", saying that "the church's isolated position, and lack of modern facilities, clearly constitute severe limitations on the parish's ability to make use of the building to serve the needs of its people," and that "the parish has sought to find a new way in which it can utilise this historic asset in mission.

"Preservation of the church as it is might seem superficially appealing from an aesthetic perspective, but I am entitled and obliged to have regard to the mission of the church, and, indeed, the long-term viability of the building to continue in its historic use as a place of worship."

Ms Ellis said that the Rector of Kenardington, the Revd Roderick Whateley, had written a "courteous letter" to apologise for starting work before a faculty had been granted, and that she had accepted his apology.