SCAFFOLDING that has encased one of the city's oldest buildings is set to come down.

After five years of being covered, the restored south walls and turrets of the Cathedral's Edgar Tower will soon be revealed.

The medieval gatehouse is one of the few that has survived largely unaltered since it was built as the gateway to Worcester Cathedral’s College Green in the mid-14th century.

The tower replaced an earlier stone gateway built in the early 1200s by order of King John, who is buried in Worcester Cathedral and whose legacy lives on in Magna Carta.

It also still houses what is possibly the oldest schoolroom in continuous use in England, as the Classics Department for the King’s School.

The very poor condition of the existing structure and the structural fragility caused by earlier phases of repair work, combined with the exposed condition to the prevailing weather from the southwest, led Historic England to add the Edgar Tower to its ‘heritage at risk’ register in 2016.

Louise Brennan, regional director of Historic England in the Midlands, said: "We are thrilled at the progress that has been achieved at the Edgar Tower.

"Working in partnership with the team at the Cathedral has been positive and the essential work has been done to an amazingly high level of skill.

"Not only that, it is wonderful to see Worcester Cathedral’s former apprentices leading the repair work.

"With the scaffolding coming down, Edgar Tower has been returned to the streetscape of Worcester as a beautiful, well repaired and safe building."

The scaffolding is now being taken down from the south side and the Cathedral’s stonemasons have just begun work on the north walls and turrets.

The restoration was carried out by the Cathedral Works Department under the guidance of the Cathedral’s Surveyor of the Fabric.

The Archaeological assessment was undertaken by the Cathedral Archaeologist and the sourcing of materials by the Cathedral’s master mason. Replacement stone was selected on a ‘like-for-like’ basis and in each case a natural stone closely matched to the existing was selected.