St James’ Church hopes to repair the partially collapsed wall by The Crammer in Devizes this year but it depends on money being raised.

The work is expected to cost between £60,000 and £100,000 and churchwarden Noel Woolrych said the church did not have spare cash available.

He said: “We have just spent £300,000 on refurbishing the church and projects in Sudan and we have got to pay back £25,000 to £30,000 on a loan for that. I don’t want to saddle the congregation with a huge bill.”

He said grants would be sought from organisations for the work.

Part of the church wall collapsed into the Crammer in February 2008 following a spate of torrential rain and high winds.

Mr Woolrych said the wall presented no danger to people or animals. He said: “It’s perfectly stable at the moment, nothing has moved.The damaged part of the wall has fallen into the Crammer, that is why the fencing has gone.

“Obviously it doesn’t look nice, it’s one of the historic views of Devizes. I would like to get it repaired this year but it is dependant on raising the money.”

Mr Woolrych said the preferred option was to rebuild the wall but reduce it in height sloping down to the road, which will reduce the weight of soil behind the retaining wall. A number of refuges for the smaller water birds could also be provided.

Devizes Town Council recently had repair work, including repointing, done on the remainder of the Crammer wall, which is its responsibility.

Five months after the wall collapsed pranksters left two wooden drawer fronts at the site portraying them as coffins.

Mr Woolrych was initially concerned that the wooden effects were coffins which, following the collapse of the wall, had spilled out of the churchyard, where the last burial took place more than 200 years ago.