A listed Victorian gatepost at a Norwich cemetery has been reduced to rubble after a bin lorry crashed into it.

Eastern Daily Press: A bin lorry crashed into one of the gates at Earlham Cemetery in Bowthorpe Road. Pic: Alison Rees.A bin lorry crashed into one of the gates at Earlham Cemetery in Bowthorpe Road. Pic: Alison Rees. (Image: Alison Rees)

A gate post at Earlham Cemetery was destroyed at about 9am on Wednesday, November 7.

The accident happened at the Bowthorpe Road entrance wall of the cemetery and was hit by a Viridor commercial waste lorry as it was leaving the site.

The company is contracted by Dignity, who own and manage the Earlham crematorium.

Police were called to the scene and directed traffic away from the collapsed gatepost due to the amount of bricks that spilled into the road.

Officers spoke to Norwich City to arrange repairs.

A council spokesman said: 'Currently the footpath by the entrance on Bowthorpe Road is cordoned off while the stone and bricks are cleared and the area is made safe.

'The entrance will be closed for vehicles until further notice but remains open for pedestrians. The main entrance on Earlham Road is unaffected.'

The council will attempt to salvage as much of the broken stone work as possible to return the gatepost to its original condition.

The spokesman added: 'The wall is a listed asset and as much as possible of the original stone will be salvaged and reused.

'Heras fencing will be put up as an interim measure while the council organises the rebuilding of the entrance wall.'

It is not known how much the repair work will cost but the council spokesman said that any costs would be reclaimed from insurance.

City Council owns about 1,100 properties which it has listed as assets. These take the form of retail shops and business units, to the Castle and Guildhall.

Many of these assets will be plots of land that have buildings on.

Some examples of this include Waterloo Park, Magdalen Street car park and the buildings in Chapelfield Gardens.

It is not known when the repair work will be completed.