BRIGHT orange barriers have gone up around Worcester's Cathedral island - as council experts reiterated their plea for people to stay away.

After too many people crossing the road led to safety concerns, Worcestershire County Council moved in yesterday lunchtime to erect plastic boards in front of the roundabout to discourage passers-by from going over.

They say the next step is a covered mesh fencing all the way around, but decided to hold off from taking that step after saying yesterday's Worcester News publicity appeared to do the trick.

A warning in this newspaper led to a big drop in the number of people crossing the congested island.

It comes as these classic images show exactly what was on the famous site when it formed part of the old Lich Street.

The photographs, taken from our archives, show the bustling street in its pomp before all the properties were demolished in the 1960s to signal the creation of Cathedral island.

The county council has acknowledged the huge interest in the current archaeological dig, and says plans to start an exhibition on the findings so far are nearing confirmation.

Richard Bradley, project officer for the archives and archaeology Service, said: "It's great to see the level of interest in what we are doing and while we don't want to discourage that it's important people don't put themselves at risk.

"Fortunately, since the publicity has gone out about our concerns people have been taking heed and yesterday we have had only one or two people walking over the road to look at the work.

"That being the case, we are going to review the situation again (today) before making a decision on whether to go ahead with putting up mesh fencing around the site.

"I would stress that we are keen to keep the public informed about our progress and any findings, so as well as setting up an exhibition in an empty local shop we are also planning to launch a blog and issue social media updates."

The digging work so far has unearthed old cellars and other structures with medieval origins.

The cellars belonged to Georgian and Victorian properties which formed part of the old Lich Street.

The £1.1 million revamp will see the Cathedral roundabout shrink in size to create a giant piazza-style open space for people to relax in.