Hadrian’s Wall Trust – which oversees maintenance of the wall and adjoining visitor centre – is to close down within six months after finance for the project evaporated, leaving funding support for the World Heritage Site mired in uncertainty.

Following an internal review, the trustees decided that current arrangements for the site were "unsustainable". A number of organisations are attempting to generate funds for the one of the most well-known monuments in the UK, but as things stand, maintenance of the wall could become a problem in the coming months.

“We hope and pray resources can be found to keep the heritage site safe,” said Linda Tuttiett, chief executive of Hadrian’s Wall Trust. “The future is uncertain. Everyone is committed to finding a solution, but it has still not been finalised and nobody has got any money. It would be dreadful to think one of Britain’s premier heritage sites was not being looked after properly.”

English Heritage will take up maintenance of the wall when the Trust closes, but will not gain any extra funding for the 84-mile partition, which costs roughly £2,400 per mile each year to maintain.

Built in AD 122, the entire World Heritage Site surrounding the wall covers 120 miles. The Trust was set up seven years ago as the wall had been “failing badly”.

The trust was initially designed to oversee the operations, as previously a series of organisations were involved in running the site including the National Trust, English Heritage, eight local authorities and more than 300 landowners.