Report revealsthe cost of savingRoman wall

Details of a report, compiled by experts at English Heritage and Historic England on the state of the 2,000-year-old structure - have been released.

The report is calling for investment of between £70-£100,000 to ‘stabilise’ the wall and preserve it for future generations.

Sheila Jonkers, a local expert on Roman Horncastle, is hoping 80 per cent of the funding will come from Historic England who have been supportive of attempts to save the wall from deteriorating further.

However, local campaigners will have to submit an application to Historic England for that funding.

They will also have to raise the remaining 20 per cent of the funding themselves.

Mrs Jonkers is one of the leading figures locally in efforts to preserve the wall.

She is planning to hold a public meeting to discuss fund raising initiatives and is hoping volunteers will come forward.

Mrs Jonkers described the report as ‘positive’ and said the cost of the proposed work was less than expected.

She explained the restoration programme would ‘stabilise’ the remaining stretches of the wall.

As reported in the News recently, the wall is at the centre of speculation about why the Romans attached so much importance to Horncastle.

The walls were wider and higher than many major towns at the time, like Lincoln. Historians believe the structure formed part of a chain of Saxon Shore Forts.

There are efforts locally to put the wall - and the mystery of the Roman town - at the centre of plans to attract more tourists to Horncastle although funding will again hold the key.

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