29 December 2011 Last updated at 12:46 ET

Wroxeter Roman villa needs maintenance work

English Heritage said the plaster work needs repairing on the Roman Town House at Wroxeter

Maintenance is needed at a mock Roman town house in Shropshire, according to English Heritage.

The organisation said the plaster work of Wroxeter's Roman Town House near Ironbridge was damaged by last winter's frost and ice.

Mark Badger from English Heritage said: "Romans did not have the luxury of a damp-proof course."

The property opened in February after being was constructed for the Channel 4 programme Rome Wasn't Built in a Day.

English Heritage said the architect and builders who constructed the property will return to the site in January.

Mr Badger said: "Where the upper walls are protected from the elements by the layer of paint, the lower walls effectively suck water up from the ground, which makes the plaster much heavier, damper and prone to breaking loose.

"We don't expect this property to last for 1,000 years but it adds so much to the Roman experience, putting the whole of Wroxeter Roman City into a far more tangible context for our visitors."

The designs by Professor Dai Morgan Evans were based on a building excavated at the site in Wroxeter, which was originally named Viriconium and is said to have been the fourth largest in Roman Britain.