Heritage chiefs are scouring the country for ways to protect a historic York monument which has been left battered by a string of lorry crashes.

The barbican at Walmgate Bar makes the whole structure a unique national treasure.

But high-sided heavy lorries, whose drivers have not spotted the height warning sign there, have been smashing into the structure, knocking chunks out of the stonework and shaking the building to its core. Just last week an HGV had to be freed when it became wedged under the bar.

Walmgate councillor David Wilde and Pastor David Sylvester, whose Calvary Evangelical Chapel is housed there, have called for urgent action to save it from further damage.

Prompted by Coun Wilde's call, city archaeologist John Oxley raised the issue when he met English Heritage last week.

The body is now looking at how similar monuments in other parts of the country have been successfully protected in a bid to find a solution.

Pastor Sylvester said the bar had been hit by lorries about four times in just over three years. Just recently one missed a pillar by inches.

"That would have been a disaster," he said.

"My concern for the building is not just the lorries hitting it, but the buses and heavy vehicles that pass underneath.

"You feel the whole building vibrate and I watch the plaster and limestone falling off slowly day by day."

Coun Wilde said: "This is a Grade I Listed Building, and we (the council) are the owners of it and have a duty to maintain it.

"This is an absolutely priceless piece of Britain's history, and with tourism being York's greatest economic strength it must be protected."

Coun Wilde has suggested a curtain of metal strips or tubes could be hung at the walled barbican end so when lorries that were too high hit this moveable barrier it would warn them they could not make it under the approaching bar.

Mr Oxley said Coun Wilde's idea would be looked at along with other options.

Any scheme would have to be sanctioned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith.

Updated: 12:15 Thursday, February 08, 2001