WORK has been approved to repair a section of historic wall around the northern corner of County Hall, close to the Roman Town House.

The structure, which is listed for its historic importance, partly collapsed more than two years ago and has been surrounded by supporting structures and safety fencing since then.

To dismantle and repair the wall is likely to be a long job, most of the work having to be undertake by hand, with a sample section of wall being constructed first, under expert guidance, to be used as a template for the rest of the restoration.

Councillors who approved the planning and listed building consent for the works were told that the Dorset County Council were likely to be responsible for the collapse by building up the ground levels behind the wall to create a car park extension.

The repair work will include removing digging away part of the car park, closest to the wall, reducing the pressure on the structure, and then infilling at a lower level, with soil which will be planted with wildflowers.

Dorchester Cllr Les Fry proposed agreeing the applications: “It’s a brilliant wall, it’s a great historic asset but if we don’t look after it, it will fall down,” he said.

Part of the reconstruction will include reinstating a curved section at the corner of the Victorian wall> At key times throughout the demolition and rebuilding archaeologists will be called in to examine the site because the wall lies on the line of the Roman defensive walls around Dorchester, then called Durnovaria, which in more recent times were partly flattened and became what is know as The Walks.

The crumbling wall is on the corner of North Walks and West Walks at the northern end of Colliton Park and within yards of the Roman townhouse site and dates from the early 18th century, constructed of alternate bands of Ridgeway or Portland rubble and flints with red brick coping.