I THINK it is about time the so-called "Rape of Worcester" in the middle 1960s was laid to rest.

St Michael's Church was declared redundant in 1938 at the same time that Lich Street became a slum clearance area under the 1936 Public Health Act.

Most of the properties were in a poor state of repair and the majority belonged to landlords who could not afford to repair them.

Any property under the 1936 Act having a ceiling height of less than seven foot six inches were classed to be unfit for human inhabitation.

It was not until the middle of 1952 that Lord Denning declared that no law could be used in retrospect and many old properties were spared demolition.

This came too late to save Lich Street, most of the buildings there being owned by the city council.

St Michael's Church and the Lichgate were demolished in early 1956.

The rubble was used to fill in the cellars of the properties knocked down by the widening of Sidbury.

The site of St Michael's church was a wide, open space for at least eight years before work was started on the Giffard Hotel in 1964.

It was only after the Giffard was finished that people noticed the church and Lichgate had gone.

M SIMPKINS,

Fernhill Heath, Worcester.