Work set to start on crumbling 18th Century wall

The wall has been supported by scaffolding since 2022

A crumbling 18th Century wall that has been propped up by scaffolding for more than two years is set to be repaired.

Dorset Council said the the section of wall at County Hall, Dorchester, alongside the town's Walks, needed to be dismantled and rebuilt.

It said work had been complicated by it being both a listed building and a scheduled monument.

A firm of architects has now been appointed to manage work on the wall, which has begun with a 3D survey.

The crumbling wall - built on the earlier Roman wall ramparts - is on the corner of North Walks and West Walks, close to the town's Roman townhouse site.

The walls and the paths adjacent to them, known locally as The Walks, featured in Thomas Hardy’s 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Dorset Council erected scaffolding and water tanks, which provide ballast, around the wall, in April 2022 after it partially collapsed.

The council said: “The works required are not straightforward as the wall needs to be dismantled and fully rebuilt and requires both Listed Building and Scheduled Monument approvals."

It said the job was made more complex by trees growing close to the wall and the need to protect any Roman, or earlier, remains beneath.

Dorchester architects firm Crickmay Stark has been appointed to manage the works, which have just been advertised for planning purposes

There is currently no timescale for the work.