The historic Poultry Cross has now re-opened following repair work.

The Grade I listed structure was damaged last year by a car that crashed into it while the driver was fleeing from police and repair works started in October 2022.

Brandon Luke Gamblin, 20, of Chamberlayne Road, Eastleigh, was charged with a string of driving offences after the incident.

He was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Monday, September 5, for dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, driving while disqualified and without a licence, and criminal damage.

Gamblin received a concurrent jail sentence of eight months, which was suspended for two years. He was also disqualified from driving for three years with his interim disqualification taken into account.

Now, following a joint effort by the D&N Construction team, stone masons, architects, structural engineers, scaffolders and the City Council, the Poultry Cross has returned to its previous state.

The stone masons from Salisbury Cathedral dismantled and rebuilt the south buttress which contained the damaged area. During dismantling, individual stones were recorded and the stones that were undamaged or could be restored were numbered and used in the rebuild.

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Materials used were traditional lime mortar and heritage lime gravity poured grout.

The cost of the repairs as a result of the collision totalled £84k. It is expected that this will be covered by insurance. The additional conservation works costed £30k.

The clerk of works at Salisbury Cathedral, Gary Price, said: “The majority of the work has been to repair the south buttress following a vehicle collision, we have also undertaken a clean and repair of other areas of stonework. We are very privileged to be working on such an iconic Salisbury monument.”

One of the leaders of the Council, Councillor Ian Tomes, said: “It is great to see the Poultry Cross back to its original form thanks to the excellent teamwork of the skilled workforce involved. The Poultry Cross is an important historic monument in Salisbury and they did a great job fixing the damaged area for future residents and visitors to enjoy.”