PRESS STATEMENT

Representatives of Ludlow Town Council attended a meeting on 24 January 2025 arranged by the Ludlow Town Walls Trust and chaired by MP Stuart Anderson, to discuss possible solutions for the collapsed section of Ludlow Town Wall , which lies to the north of St. Laurence Church, and which separates the churchyard from the road beyond.  Representatives from the Diocese of Hereford, the Parochial Church Council of St Laurence, and Shropshire Council also attended, as did other interested parties.

At the meeting, a representative of Historic England identified that an important first step is for all interested parties to come together, as a group, to identify the most appropriate solution to the current position, via a feasibility study into the various rebuilding options.  He went on to explain that the feasibility study needs to be progressed before funding can be applied for, and before there is any need to identify or form a suitable organisation to be designated as responsible for the future maintenance of the newly built section of wall.  The Church would also need to approve any identified scheme.

Ludlow Town Council has historically led on many of the measures needed to progress repairs to the wall,  including obtaining a structural engineer’s report. That report identifies several factors which are likely to have led to the collapse of the wall, namely a build-up of water pressure in the sub-soil behind the wall, linked with apparent degradation, from moisture saturation, of the wall mortar, and inadequate thickness of the masonry to resist the retained churchyard sub-soil, which has put an originally free-standing wall under too much stress.  It is clear from the report that all the long-term solutions for the wall are likely to require a new structure to be put in place. 

Partly because of its very long history, the ownership of the wall and responsibility for its maintenance are extremely complicated and contentious matters. However, the advice received at the recent meeting identified a clear path for progress to be made, without needing to get side-tracked into resolving these historic issues which, depending on the ultimate solution identified, may not need to be addressed.

The Town Council has resolved to “take a full and active part in joining the partnership on a no liability basis with the stated aim of pursuing external grant funding for repairing and reinforcing the collapsed section of Ludlow Town Wall”.   To this end, the Council is in the process of actively encouraging all other interested parties (which would need to include adjacent landowners), to discuss the next steps identified by Historic England, to enable a feasibility study to be progressed.