For more than 10 years unsightly ‘temporary’ propping has held up a wall at an 11th century Scandinavian church in Chester city centre.

Now Cheshire West and Chester Council’s joint venture company QWest has lodged planning and listed building applications for a permanent fix at St Olave’s in Lower Bridge Street.

Previous proposed repairs have come to nought.

St Olave's Church next to the former Quick's Ford dealership in Lower Bridge Street, Chester.

The latest plan will involve visible but hopefully more aesthetically pleasing reinforcements than the temporary propping which would be removed.

Six vertical metal posts would be erected on the pavement, at a distance of 1.7m from each other, tight up against the bulging wall, with concrete infill between the steel and the existing stonework.

The posts would protrude 0.5m on to the pavement and be clad in red sandstone, similar in colour to the existing wall, but sawn rather than hand finished to give the appearance of stone buttresses.

A document supporting the application suggested the significance of burials behind the wall outweighed the importance of the wall itself and that ‘justifying disturbance behind the wall would be difficult and less acceptable than a solution in front of the wall’.

St Olave's Church, Chester, at different stages in its life

In addition, historic railings would be retained but with a new load bearing barrier to prevent loading to the railings. The forecourt would be put back to the former paved surface with any new paving matching the existing. The pavement adjacent to the forecourt would be in York stone as elsewhere in Chester.

Former council chief executive Steve Robinson previously revealed the council was planning to sell the grade II-listed St Olave’s with interested parties invited to bid for the property. More recently other options, including community use, were not ruled out.

St Olave’s was founded in the 11th century. Its dedication is to Saint Olaf, a Norwegian king. At the time that the church was founded, the area around Lower Bridge Street was largely occupied by Scandinavians, and it is thought this is the reason for the dedication.

St Olave's Church, Chester, at different stages in its life.

The present church building dates from 1611. In 1841 the parish of St Olave was united with that of St Michael’s, and the church closed.

The building was restored in 1849 by James Harrison and converted into use as a school. It was declared redundant by the Church of England on October 3, 1972. It has since been used as the Chester Revival Centre, a Pentecostal church, an exhibition centre and as a storeroom for Cheshire Records Office.

In July the annual ‘mini-pilgrimmage’ to St Olave’s took place to mark the borough’s Viking connections supported by the group Viking Chester.