WORK is underway on how to save a 180-year-old Victorian wall which protects a town cemetery. 

The old Wivenhoe cemetery, which houses a number of graves, is an important green space used for the town council's rewilding project.

However the wall which encompasses the graveyard has fallen into a state of disrepair.

One surveyor who assessed the extent of the project estimated the wall could cost at least £200,000 to repair, with the possibility of the figure rising as the project progresses.

The graveyard wall was built in 1850, with the Victorian structure consecrated in 1858.

In some areas, the Victorian wall displays only superficial damages, however in stretches the entire wall wobbles, threatening to topple onto either the gardens of neighboring houses or the haven green space of the rewilding project.

As the structural damage varies across the wall, the council is exploring several options, from replacing the entire wall, to steel brackets and heli-bars in several areas, to ground anchors to pin the wall up.

However, the council is weary of other issues it may encounter such as disturbing trees or excavating graves where people died of smallpox.

The old Wivenhoe cemetery is also the final resting place of US Navy veteran William Oakley, who was laid to rest after his death in 1918.

When an inspection into the gravesite, which was marked with only a wooden cross at the time, found that the American war hero, who spent his final days in Wivenhoe, a special headstone was commissioned for him.

The Congressional Medal of Honour recipient was given a special headstone, commissioned by the US Veterans’ Association back in 2018, a hundred years after he passed away in Wivenhoe, aged 61.

Tim Multon, of the Wivenhoe Town Council’s estates team, said: “We are trying to do work which will last long term.

"We are looking at doing different parts of the wall with different methods over time to spread the cost.”

The council is exploring fundraising projects and grants to help with the costs, with plans to get the project started as soon as possible.