Greenwich's yeomen - the much-loved Old Royal Naval College (ORNC) tour guides - are set to be sacked and replaced with volunteers in a "scandalous" move that will "rip the heart out of Greenwich".

A proposed shake-up at the college will see 28 posts removing from the visitor experience department - axing the prople who conduct tours and, thanks to many years of experience, have a rich and detailed knowledge of the site.

They are set to be replaced by volunteers as the college consults on changing its tours and increasing its opening hours.

Yeoman Linda Cunningham told News Shopper the move would "rip the heart out of Greenwich", adding: "The yeoman leaving the ORNC would be like the ravens leaving the tower."

In a powerful speech to the Greenwich Foundation last week, Ms Cunningham said: "We inherited the buildings from the Navy, we had no scripts, no tours, nothing, the only thing we had jointly was passion for these wonderful buildings."

She said the yeomen had put huge amounts of time into research, which now formed the basis of ORNC tours, adding: "The new managers up in their ivory tower can never, never understand the dedication that has been given by us yeoman guides."

Affected staff can apply for newly-created roles, but the yeomen warn these will pay far less than the London Living Wage

A spokesman for the staff said: "The place will be staffed by students and overseas workers, because local people will not be able to juggle their time around the new rotas, or live on the wage being offered.

"Everyone fully understands that changes are necessary, but this is a scandalous way for a charitable institution to go about things." 

Public engagement director for the Greenwich Foundation Sarah Duthie, said they were "actively seeking feedback" from staff and consulting those affected.

She said: "We have exciting plans for the Old Royal Naval College which include increased opening hours and the introduction of free highlights tours making the site even more accessible to visitors and the local community. 

"Our plans mean that we need to readdress how we provide our visitor care. The free highlights tours for example will be led by highly trained ORNC volunteers, whilst specialist paid tours will be delivered by ORNC staff. 

"We are absolutely committed to making sure that all our visitor experience team will all be paid at least the National Living Wage and we intend to increase this to the London Living wage as soon as possible. 

"In addition, we offer a generous pension scheme.  Staff affected by the change have the choice to apply for full time or part time work. Staff will also be advised of rosters at least one month in advance."