Possible medieval remains have temporarily halted redevelopment of an Ilkley church.

All Saints Parish Church, Church Street, Ilkley, based on the site of Ilkley’s Roman fort, is awaiting Government permission for an archaeology dig of its £750,000 redevelopment.

The church is seeking consent from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for shallow test trenches on the historic site.

That is where it plans to build a link between two of its heritage buildings.

The redevelopment includes the link building and internal alterations of the church. But the plans were held up after West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service and English Heritage expressed concern about a “watching brief” for archaeological remains proposed during the construction of the link building.

They called for a halt to the plans until a dig could take place.

English Heritage said there could be medieval and post-medieval remains of “high significance” on the site, as well as buried Roman, post-Roman and Saxon archaeology.

Church redevelopment group chairman Clive Brook is hopeful the Government will soon give the go-ahead for an approved independent contractor to begin the dig.

“The current estimate is we were hoping to have the ancient monument consent in place in less than two months,” said Mr Brook.

The dig will include two shallow trenches to a depth of half a metre on the site earmarked for the link building. The length of time taken for the actual dig will be dictated by what if any archaeological remains are found.

All Saints submitted a planning application for its link building to Bradford Council early this year. The plan has yet to be determined.

The development is situated within the remains of Olicana Roman Fort, say archaeologists, which is thought to have been built by Agricola in AD70 to 80. Excavations of the site last century concentrated on the northern section of the fort, but it is believed the ancient headquarters, or “principia”, is in the south of the site, in the church.