Delays to repair of Roman wall
A SECTION of Exeter’s historic Roman city wall is still awaiting a rebuild, after it collapsed more than five years ago.
Repair plans have been delayed by concerns that the proposed method could cause further damage to the wall.
February marked five years since the section of Exeter’s city wall on Bartholomew Street East crumbled into the City Gate Hotel’s pub garden. The site has remained boarded up ever since.
In July 2023, a planning application for a programme of repairs was submitted on behalf of Exeter City Council, which is responsible for maintaining the wall. The original application explained that it was thought that a nearby tree may have caused the collapse by cracking the masonry. The tree has since been removed and any dangerous brickwork taken down.
It was proposed that a concrete pile retaining wall and capping beam be installed below ground and behind the line of the existing wall. Tie rods were also to be installed between the Roman wall and the new retaining wall.
It was hoped that works would start in January 2024 and be completed by June 2024.
While an Exeter City Council Planning Officer recommended that the application should be approved, the plans were hit with a backlash from the Devon Archaeological
Society (DAS) and the Devon Buildings Group (DBG).
Both organisations raised concerns that a concrete pile retaining wall could cause “considerable” damage to below-ground parts of the city wall. They also said that the plans needed to include detailed recordings of masonry prior to the works commencing in order to prevent “important archaeological evidence” being “destroyed or obliterated”.
Instead of a concrete pile retaining wall, there are now plans to reinforce the structure with a masonry retaining wall and to install ground anchors.
If approved, work, taking six months, could start in ‘mid 2024’.