In an unprecedented move, historic St James Church in Tunbridge Wells was sold by the Church of England last week and is apparently to be turned into a scientific laboratory of some kind. The listed property, built in the early 1800s, was acquired by Australian shipping magnate, Roger Minton, for an undisclosed sum, after 8 months of negotiation with the Church of England and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. According to sources in the former church congregation, the sale had not been expected to go through, and the turn of events has been met by both shock and outrage by churchgoers and local residents.

Minton, 52, who owns Tunbridge Wells based high tech research company, Quantum Logic Systems, was not available to comment on the sale, but the following statement from him was issued by his office.

"We became interested in St James church back in early 2008, when we discovered that for a brief period in the late 19th century, Alastair Hyacinth had used it for his laboratory and workshop. We had been looking for suitable lab space for a new research project and loved the idea of occupying the same space as the local legend. Of course we had no illusions as to our chances of actually securing the property, but we approached the Church of England anyway. We figured it didn't hurt to ask.

"As it turned out, the congregation was small at St James and the C 0f E was actually in the process of divesting itself of high overhead properties all over the country. Their strategy was to consolidate existing congregations and amass cash that could be put to better use than the upkeep of expensive properties that served relatively small numbers of people. So they were amenable to the idea of selling St James if the price was right. We happily made a series of offers until finally we came up with a figure they accepted.

"By this time Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had heard about the potential sale and was up in arms about the change of use of the property. Months of negotiation followed, where we tried in vain to please them. Ironically, they seemed dead set on stopping the purchase when the C of E itself was happy with it. Go figure. Basically, we got nowhere until Trevor Cocksmith of The Steam Guild stepped in and spoke to the council on our behalf. After that, miraculously, they finally agreed to 'let' us buy it.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience to the 50 or so people in the St James congregation, but have been assured that they will be well taken care of at St Peters church nearby, who welcome them with open arms."

Minton claims that his plans are to set up research laboratories in both the church and the second building on the site, formerly a pre-school. The research project is to be led by Derek Lomax, a business associate of Minton's from London, who will be overseeing construction and conversion once the present tenants leave at the end of April. Also joining the new research team will be professors Grenville Parks and Zara Audran, both from Quantum Logic Systems, who will be splitting their time between the new project and QLS. Further information about the future use of St James is unknown as no one involved was available for comment.

Local attitude is still largely negative about the sale and the future occupiers, even though the property's listed status will most likely prevent any alteration whatsoever to the exterior of the church itself and surrounding grounds. One congregation member did comment however, that she'd heard rumour that special dispensation had been granted to the new owner regarding structural alteration. At the time of posting we were unable to verify this.

As the story unfolds, we will keep you posted.