A major £250,000 conservation scheme led by English Heritage to repair and restore historic brickwork on defences on the northern side of Dover Castle in Kent is now underway.

Work on the castle's Spur, which has been heavily fortified since the 13th century in a bid to strengthen the site's defences, is being carried out by London-based David Ball Restoration. Passages known as caponiers were constructed during the Napoleonic War to provide flanking fire along the ditches around the Spur, two of which will now undergo restoration work expected to take 13 weeks to complete.

English Heritage's head of visitor operations at Dover Castle, Steve Lang, said: "We are stabilising areas where movement has occurred in the maze of brick-built passages known as caponiers. We are also carrying out repairs to the roof, the eaves detail and re-pointing the brickwork. "This conservation work is necessary to halt the collapse of some of the unstable brickwork to ensure that this unique part of Dover Castle remains in good order and can be enjoyed and studied by generations of visitors to come."