Ross-on-Wye



Ross-on-Wye

Collapse Worsens and Work Starts

21st May 2008

The south west corner of the Prospect (21-5-08)
The south west corner of the Prospect (Click for a larger image)

These are the excavations as seen from the Prospect. The bank has been dug away next to where the south wall will be.

As can be seen in the photo above, extensive excavations have been carried out in the south west corner of the prospect in the area where the war memorials were situated.

The works from the Prospect (21-5-08)
The works from the Prospect
(Click for a larger image)

The south wall trench (21-5-08)
The south wall trench
(Click for a larger image)

The trench that has been dug where the south wall used to be has been further extended and tidied up.


17th May 2008

In the photo below the spoil heaps from the excavations are clearly increasing in size.

The Prospect (17-5-08)
The Prospect spoil heaps (Click for a larger image)

The stone removed from the wall has been stored in bags ready to be used to recreate the wall once the reinforcing is done.

The stone from the wall of the Prospect (17-5-08)
The stone from the wall of the Prospect
(Click for a larger image)

A trench has been started where the south wall used to be. At the south-west corner a number of trenches have been excavated.

The trench in place of the south wall (17-5-08)
The trench in place of the south wall
(Click for a larger image)
Excavation at the south west corner (17-5-08)
Excavation at the south west corner
(Click for a larger image)

9th May 2008

The south wall of the Prospect (9-5-08)
The south wall of the Prospect (Click for a larger image)

The work is now well under way. The whole length of the south and west walls have been either reduced in height or completely removed.

The wall of the Prospect (9-5-08)
The west wall of the Prospect (Click for a larger image)

The west wall of the Prospect (9-5-08)
The west wall of the Prospect (Click for a larger image)

3rd May 2008

The works seen from the churchyard (2-5-08)
The works seen from the churchyard
(Click for a larger image)

All the railings have now been removed and the war memorial has been moved away from the edge to allow the work to continue.


The Prospect (2-5-08)
The Prospect (Click for a larger image)

The war memorial has been moved so that the wall and bank can be removed where it stood to allow this area to be reinforced.

The war memorial (2-5-08)
The war memorial in its temporary position
(Click for a larger image)

The south west corner (2-5-08)
The south west corner (Click for a larger image)

The excavated area (2-5-08)
The excavated area
(Click for a larger image)

In the area where the original collapse happened, the area has been further excavated so that the reinforcing can be added before the wall is rebuilt.

All the railings around the top of the wall have been removed in preparation for the rest of the wall to be taken down.


The south wall (2-5-08)
The south wall (Click for a larger image)

26th April 2008

The works on the wall continue and the railings from the top of the south wall have now been removed. The area in the middle of the grass in the Prospect (mentioned below) has been enlarged.

The Prospect wall (26-4-08)
The Prospect wall (Click for a larger image)

24th April 2008

The Prospect gates (24-4-08)
The Prospect gates
(Click for a larger image)

The Prospect gate posts have had chip board fixed around them to protect them as machinery is moved in and out of the Prospect.

Various earth moving equipment has been moved into the Prospect and has been used to clear an area in the middle of the lawn area.


The diggers etc in the Prospect (24-4-08)
The diggers etc in the Prospect (Click for a larger image)

Where the wall initially collapsed, the bank has been dug back and shuttering has been setup to protect the graves below the area.

The wall by John Kyrle's Gate has been partially dismantled to allow work to continue (the capping for the wall can be seen on the pallet).

The collapsed area in the Prospect (24-4-08)
The collapsed wall in the Prospect
(Click for a larger image)

The collapsed Prospect wall (24-4-08)
The collapsed Prospect wall (Click for a larger image)

The collapsed area in the west wall (24-4-08)
The collapsed area in the west wall
(Click for a larger image)

The west wall has collapsed further, possibly due to the ivy being removed.

The collapsed west wall (24-4-08)
The collapsed west wall (Click for a larger image)

18th April 2008


Work has started clearing the ivy and vegetation off the walls of the Prospect. Presumably this means that work is soon to start on the walls.

The collapsed area (18-4-08)
The collapsed area
(Click for a larger image)

The collapsed area seen from the Prospect (18-4-08)
The collapsed area seen from the Prospect
(Click for a larger image)
The site of the viewing point (18-4-08)
The site of the viewing point
(Click for a larger image)

Some of the cleared vegetation (18-4-08)
Some of the cleared vegetation
(Click for a larger image)

Both the side, including its buttresses, and the end have been cleared.

The side the Prospect (18-4-08)
The side of the Prospect
(Click for a larger image)

27th January 2008

Today I noticed the VE Day beacon in the Council yard down on the Ashburton Industrial Estate so it seemed prudent to see what was going on in the Prospect.


In the Prospect the VE Day Beacon has been literally pulled out. The viewing point appears to have been wrenched off its base. As can be seen in the right-hand photo below, the wall has collapsed behind where the viewing point was, the cause of this could have been the poor weather or possibly the effort needed to wrench the viewing point off its base.

The site of the VE Day beacon (27-1-08)
The site of the VE Day beacon
(Click for a larger image)
The site of the viewing point (27-1-08)
The site of the viewing point
(Click for a larger image)

Ross Town Council contracted Herefordshire County Council to look after the site. It has therefore fallen to Herefordshire County Council to carry out the repairs rather than the Church .

In order to fix the problem, the plan is to take down the existing wall and rebuild it using much more substantial foundations and then face it with the stone removed during the demolition of the outer wall. The unfortunately part is that the stone cleared from the graves when the side wall collapsed was left heaped in the Churchyard. This has slowly "disappeared" over the last year so not all of the original stonework can be replaced.

So far the small monuments in the Prospect have been removed but the War Memorial is yet to be moved away from the edge. This also leaves questions over what needs to be done to secure the John Kyrle Gate to prevent it from potentially toppling over.

The collapsed end wall (27-1-08)
The collapsed end wall
(Click for a larger image)
The collapsed end (27-1-08)
The collapsed end
(Click for a larger image)

There has been no change to the side wall other than grass has started to grow over the fallen debris.

The end wall (27-1-08)
The end wall
(Click for a larger image)
The collapsed side wall (27-1-08)
The collapsed side wall
(Click for a larger image)

This is the site as seen from further up the Churchyard looking down towards the side wall were the wall first collapsed. The War Memorial and John Kyrle's Gate stand out in the photo.

The collapsed area (27-1-08)
The collapsed side wall area
(Click for a larger image)





1 The Ross Gazette - Wednesday June 4th 2008
2 The Hereford Times - Thursday June 5th 2008
3 The Ross Gazette - Wednesday September 10th 2008 - no. 6727 - article: Roman remains or landmark tree?
4 The Ross Gazette - Wednesday September 17th 2008 - no. 6728 - article: A new home for Ross War Memorial
5 Ross-on-Wye Journal - Wednesday October 6th 2008 - article: Tree will go at Prospect
6 The Ross Gazette - Wednesday November 25th 2009 - article: Prospect restored
7 http://en.wikipedia....ncient_Roman_pottery, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samian_ware
8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius
9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epona


[Page updated: Feb 15 2011 13:31:59]






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