AN appalled councillor has lambasted the actions of vandals who tarnished a section of ancient Roman wall with graffiti.

Colchester Council has sought advice from Historic England about how to remove the messy scrawl from the historic wall without causing further damage.

Castle ward councillor Simon Crow was taking a stroll along Castle Road when he spotted the tag.

“I reported it to the town centre manager, so hopefully it will be cleared up as soon as possible,” he said.

“There was a spate of this kind of graffiti a couple of years ago, I hope this isn’t marking the start of something like that.

“I am appalled by it.

“It is awful to see someone has felt it necessary to spray graffiti across a Roman wall - I just don’t know what goes through the minds of people who commit such appalling acts of vandalism.

“Of course I see graffiti around town, but I have not seen the Roman wall tagged in this way.

“I have lived here almost all my life, I am aware of the importance of our unique history which most are proud to preserve.”

The Roman wall stretching throughout Colchester is 2,800 metres long and is considered by many to be the crown jewel of the oldest recorded town in Britain.

It is the earliest stone built defence structure of its kind in the country, dated between 65 and 80 AD, and was built following the Boudican Revolt in 60 AD, which saw the violent destruction of the town.

It has stood for nearly two millennia, directing the geographic and historical development of the town and two thirds of the circuit is visible today, with the remainder surviving as buried archaeology.

The tag was first spotted last Thursday and remains on the wall.

A Colchester Council spokesman said: “We are aware of the graffiti and will meet with a representative of Historic England as soon as possible to assess the spray-paint damage.

“Historic England will advise us on the use of specialist cleaning materials or contractors, to ensure the graffiti removal does not damage the wall.

"We will then be in a position to procure the specialist materials or specialist contractor to carefully remove the graffiti.”