THE last of Worcester's medieval gate plaques are set to be unveiled, marking the spot where a famous king fled for his life.

The two remaining city gate plaques at St Martin's Gate and Trinity Gate have been funded by the University of Worcester and Worcester Civic Society respectively.

The designs have been produced for the last two plaques and heritage leaders are awaiting their manufacture.

The other six plaques, which cost between £600 and £700 each, have already been unveiled during the course of last year, including one on a tattoo parlour in Sidbury (the remains of the gate itself are still extant in the basement).

The city gate project was announced by Worcester Civic Society in the Worcester News last February and the pace at which it has proceeded has surprised everyone, not least the civic society itself.

One of the two new plaques will mark the location of St Martin's Gate, the gate through which Charles II fled after the last battle of the English Civil War, the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

It was probably the largest of Worcester's medieval gates and was also known as the 'East Gate'.

The gate was first recorded in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) and was the last of the gatehouses to be demolished in 1787.

It led to the industrial suburb of Silver Street and Lowesmoor and on to the low-lying, marshy land of the Frog Bank valley and on from there to Droitwich.

The six gate plaques unveiled so far are: Foregate or North Gate (The Foregate), Friar's Gate or The Blockhouse (Union Street ), St Clement's Gate ( The Butts is the nearest location), Sidbury Gate (London Road by the canal bridge), Bridge Gate (on the retaining wall near the Worcester bridge) and Frog Gate (on the old Worcester Porcelain Factory wall Severn Street ).

The Eden family has sponsored five of the plaques and has been instrumental to the overall fast pace of the project as have civil engineers Ringway which installed the plaques free of charge.

Professor Michael Clarke, the civic society president, also helped to secure funding and bring the final stages of the project closer to fruition.

Civic society chairman Phil Douce said he had expected the project to take between two and three years.

Instead the remaining two plaques could be unveiled in the middle of next month, a little over a year after the project was first announced exclusively in the Worcester News.

He said: "Once we have got these plaques up we want to write a guide which covers all the blue plaques and gate plaques. I'm delighted Worcester is getting behind it."

Vice-chairman David Saunders said: "What the civic society is looking to do is to incorporate all the major city heritage sites and points of interest in one overall, portable tourist map for visitors to the city."

He hopes these guide maps can be available in the Hive and the tourist information centre at Worcester Guildhall allowing as many people as possible to delve into the city's rich heritage and history.

Heritage champion Cllr Lucy Hodgson, cabinet member with responsibility for history and heritage, said: "It is a very exciting time with the investment in the Commandery and the work the civic society is doing with the plaques.

"A lot of people are doing fantastic work. It's nice to see the heritage of the city is being recognised. Lots of people have been talking but it's nice to see things actually happening."

Each plaque, made from aluminium is 20 inches by 15 inches (51cm by 38cm) and contains 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.

The idea is to provide more detailed information than was available on previous plaques.

The plaques are also placed as close to the original site of the medieval gates as possible to give people a clearer picture of the old boundaries of the city.