A Brighton charity is appealing for funds to save a crumbling medieval wall.

The historic flint wall built to enclose the grounds of Portslade Old Manor has become riddled with cracks over the years.

A new manor house, built in 1807, is home to Emmaus, a charity dedicated to helping homeless people.

The charity needs £50,000 to carry out the essential restoration on the listed Norman wall.

It has raised £37,000, including £20,000 from an anonymous donor but needs a further £10,000 to cover the costs and secure promised grants.

Cherry Mares, an Emmaus founder member, said: "We've had an estimate of about £50,000 for the work.

"Over the hundreds of years it has been standing the wall has crumbled in places.

"It has also been repaired with the wrong materials along the way which has made it worse.

"Self-seeding sycamore trees have grown against the walls and have not been cut down.

"It is a listed wall, so we can only repair it to the proper standards, and it has a preservation order on it.

"The council has also put a dangerous structure notice on it, so we have to do it pretty quickly."

The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation has given £15,000, provided members can find matching funding.

Brighton and Hove City Council and the Manifold Trust have each given £1,000.

Mrs Mares said: "One of our sponsors, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, has said he will give us flints from the Goodwood Estate, which will help with the rebuilding."

The ruined Portslade Old Manor still stands in the grounds.

A scheduled ancient monument and Grade ll listed building, it is one of very few examples of Norman manor houses that still exist in England and Wales.

There are two references to the original village in the Domesday Book.

Emmaus is a community of the formerly homeless who sell donated second-hand furniture, bric-a-brac and clothes to raise money for the project and for others in need.

For more information or to donate funds, contact Cherry Mares on 01273 842716.