THE second plaque to mark the location of Worcester's medieval city gates has been unveiled by a prominent Worcester family passionate about preserving its history.

Ironically the St Clement's Gate plaque was unveiled today (Friday) in memory of the late demolitions contractor who was paid to pull down historic parts of the city though it 'broke his heart' to do so.

Now the Eden family, which has deep roots in the city, are working to preserve as much of the heritage as they can.

The plaque was unveiled on the side of what is now the St Dunstan's Building at the St Dunstan's Building (formerly Russell and Dorrell).

The gate plaque is the second of eight unveiled by Worcester Civic Society and marked the spot where the gate led from a causeway to the city's Common Meadow at Pitchcroft.

The plaque itself displays an taken from an engraving dating back to the English Civil War, showing a cannon presumably used in defence of the city.

The gate itself was demolished in the second half of the eighteenth century. The plaque was unveiled by Andrew Eden, his wife Dina and their children William and Elizabeth who live in the Philippines but have returned to the city.

Their other son, Alexander could not attend. The plaque was set up in memory of Charles and Kathleen Eden, the parents of Mr Eden, a securities broker and John Eden of Eden Skip Hire and Clearaway Waste Disposal.

Andrew Eden said it was an honour to unveil the plaque and only found out about it the ceremony on the day of the unveiling.

He said: "My dad was born in Dolday. Back then it was a rough and tumble sort of place."

John Eden said: "I remember Dolday. It was a run down part of the city, back to back housing. My father was the principal demolition contractor in Worcester and he pulled all this down.

"It broke his heart to do it but if he didn't do it, someone else would. I want to put something back into the city."

Robin Walker, MP for Worcester, said: "It's great to remember this city has such a fantastic past and a great history. The Civic Society have done a brilliant job. It's nice when we have a family with long standing Worcester connections making a contribution."

Among those to attend was Debbie Morris, the tutor for local history at the building, which is part of the Heart of Worcestershire College, and some of her students.

She said: "The city walls would have cut through where this building now stands."

Phil Douce, chairman of the civic society, said they now had sponsorship for four of the eight gate plaques.

The next plaques to be unveiled are the Frog Gate and the Foregate Gate.

The Eden family also sponsored the first plaque to be unveiled - the Sidbury Gate at 75 Sidbury today.

The project itself will cost an estimated £5,500 for all eight plaques. The old plaque may go on display at the Hive once it is removed.

Each plaque, made from aluminium, will be 20 inches by 15 inches (51cm by 38cm) and will contain an image of the individual gatehouse based on an engraving which shows the city at the time of the Battle of Worcester at the end of the English Civil War in 1651.

To help sponsor these plaques please contact David Saunders of the civic society on davidsaunders66@gmail.com or civic society chairman Phil Douce on phildouce68@gmail.com