HERITAGE experts are working on a project to clean up and repair a section of Worcester’s ruined mediaeval defence walls.

It has been about 30 years since the remains of the red sandstone structure in City Walls Road was tidied up and repointed.

In that time the walls have become overgrown with weeds and have lost some of the mortar between the stones.

Now, Worcester City Council and English Heritage are working with the owners of various sections of the wall stretching from Union Street to Charles Street to give the historic landmark a facelift.

City council archaeological officer James Dinn said: “It is very untidy. There is a lot of vegetation growing out of it which needs to be controlled. It is a problem we have had in the past. It needs cleaning up and repointing. One of the real problems is the general presentation of the walls.

“The last time it was done comprehensively was when the City Walls Road was built in the 1970s and new bits were exposed.

“The city walls are bedevilled by a number of problems, including the enormous number of landowners who are responsible for them. In this section there are four landowners and one of the biggest is the National Trust which owns Greyfriars in Friar Street.”

Mr Dinn said that it was a slow process to get the walls cleaned because so many people were involved.

He said: “All the people involved are doing other things. We are hoping this section should be a lot easier than other sections because the National Trust has a lot of expertise in renovations.”

Representatives from the city council, English Heritage and the National Trust will be meeting on Wednesday, September 17, to discuss what needs to be done to the section of the wall between Union Street and Charles Street.

Mr Dinn added that the problem of historic buildings and structures becoming overgrown with vegetation had increased in recent years because of weather conditions.

He said: “Over the past three or four years the winters have not been cold enough to stop things growing. It has almost been a year-round growing season. It is something we need to be aware of if this is going to continue because of global warming.”