SCALING heights to protect the public from danger, all they were missing was the blue and red Spiderman outfit.

Only a few weeks after the hysteria surrounding the Hollywood blockbuster, these specialists were showing arachnid-like abilities on a par with Marvel Entertainment's famous hero.

This spectacle unfolded yesterday in North Yorkshire after English Heritage turned to high-rise experts to help safeguard one of the glories of medieval architecture.

Workers from the Herefordshire firm Wallwalkers have been recruited to tackle loose masonry and overgrown vegetation 85ft up at the 900-year-old Rievaulx Abbey, near Helmsley.

They are spending a week aloft with the pigeons - avoiding the need to tarnish the monastic ruins by encasing them in scaffolding and also saving the cost of a major conservation scheme.

John Lax, English Heritage works superintendent, said: "The wet winters have taken their toll, with water seeping into cracks and loosening stonework. Vegetation roots have a similar effect, creating a potential hazard to visitors.

"Climbers will check masonry and do some high-altitude weeding. It's a perfect solution and certainly beats erecting scaffolding at such an idyllic location."

The climbers will be working on top of the three-tiered presbytery and transept, built in the 13th Century to house the shrine of St Aelred, who made Rievaulx famous throughout western Europe as one of the wealthiest houses in the country.

Aelred swept away the original stone monastery, built by William of York, and created much of the present abbey.

The area below the work site will be cordoned off for six months as a safety precaution.

The Wallwalkers team, which includes one of the country's top rock climbers, has discovered a growing demand for its services recently, from the restoration of historic monuments to high-rise office blocks and shopping centres