A 300-year-old Shropshire cottage will have to be demolished because of the damage caused by a cement mixer lorry ploughing into the house, its owner has revealed.

The driver hit a telegraph pole before ploughing into The Gate House, a former toll gate, in Longdon on Tern, Telford, on the B5603 Cotwall Road.

The smash left a big gaping hole in the front of Douglas Buttery’s house and, despite the best efforts of builders and structural engineers over the weekend, he said today that he was resigned to the fact it would have to be knocked down.

Mr Buttery, 67, who arrived home from a shopping trip just after the crash, said that his family had lived in the house for more than 100 years.

He added that it had been significantly extended during that time, but it is the front of the house hit by the lorry that is the historic surviving piece from when it was built.

The pensioner said he would be sad to lose an important piece of history but said he just wanted to return to normality.

He said: “The front has been boarded up now by the builders and they say it is safe for me to go in there.

“They were in on Saturday to clear up all the rubbish both on the inside and outside of the house.

“The front of the house will have to be knocked down and totally rebuilt I think, I can’t see any other way of putting it right without bulldozing it and starting again.

“It’s a shame because of the history surrounding it but there is not a lot we can do about it.

“I just want to get back to normal but I imagine it will take a fair bit of time to sort out.”

The B5603 was closed for more than nine hours after the accident which happened just just before noon on Friday.

The driver of the cement truck, a man in his 40s, was unhurt.

The collision has led to calls for traffic calming measures to be introduced along the notorious country lane led by Richard Harvey, the landlord of the Tayleur Arms pub on the opposite side of the road to the historic home.

By Wayne Beese