Roman wall damage likened to Sycamore Gap felling

Dr Samantha Stein says the Roman wall had been put together over a period spanning 300 years

An archaeologist says there are similarities between the damage to a city's Roman wall and the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.

Lincolnshire Police received a report of damage to the ancient wall in Lincoln, located between the City Hall car parks in Beaumont Fee on Sunday.

A 45-year-old man, who had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, has been released on bail while investigations were ongoing, the force said.

The Sycamore was illegally chopped down by two men in 2023, but Dr Samantha Stein said while that tree could be replaced, the damage to the wall was "not going to grow back" and that it was "very upsetting for Lincoln's heritage".

Dr Stein, who was a producer on the BBC Two programme Digging for Britain, said the Roman wall made up the lower Roman city of Roman Colonia.

"We aren't just looking at a snapshot of time in 85AD, we're looking at a period of 300 years," she said.

"We have several phases of wall building and gate building in this wall alone."

The ancient wall and gateway in Lincoln was thought to have been damaged just after midnight on Sunday, police said

Referring to the damage, Dr Stein said it "looked intentional" as if someone had "pulled down parts of the wall, with limestone rubble around the base".

She added that while the destruction of the Sycamore Gap tree was "an alteration of a scheduled monument", the Roman wall damage was "the destruction of a grade one listed building".

"That's why they can grow another tree on it and they might have a similar looking one in 150 years, but this isn't going to grow, this is gone," she added.

City of Lincoln Councillor Joshua Wells said a structural engineer and a stonemason would work to "make the wall safe once again".

"We have already had initial discussions with Historic England's Heritage at Risk and Heritage Crime officers about how we can repair the wall to an appropriate and sustainable level, and we expect to meet with them very soon," he added.

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