Historic Ludlow wall repairs could disturb graves
Work to shore up and repair a collapsed section of Ludlow's historic town walls is very likely to involve disturbing graves dating back to the 1850s, it has been revealed.
Major repairs to the walls, which date back to the 13th century, will involve digging underneath the garden of rest at the town's St Laurence's Church.
If graves are found while work is carried out to support the wall, permission to exhume the bodies will be needed from the Home Office, the Diocese of Hereford and English Heritage before the repairs can proceed.
It comes after a second section of the wall collapsed on Wednesday afternoon, destroying a number of garages.
A 30ft stretch of the wall collapsed in the early hours of Monday, and a further small damaged area will be removed in the next week if it hasn't already fallen by then.
The garden of rest was closed as a graveyard in 1854 and all gravestones were removed. No records remain for the bodies buried there.
Councillor Martin Taylor-Smith, who represents Ludlow South on Shropshire Council, said the repair work would cost at least £250,000 but taxpayers would not have to foot the bill.
And he allayed fears that sections of the wall in other areas of the town, such as the Linney, could also be affected.
Councillor Taylor-Smith said: "To carry out repairs we will have to go under the garden of rest.
If we have to exhume bodies there is a process, and that will involve getting the permission of the Home Office, English Heritage and the Diocese of Hereford."
Colin Richards, Shropshire Council's historic buildings officer, said: "Workers would access the wall from the church green. This is a problem because we will have to go into the graveyard to work on the wall.
"The graveyard has been closed since 1854 but there's a real possibility of human remains still there."
