Bradford & District | Archive | 2005 | May | 21
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Saturday 21st May 2005.
A historic church has been vandalised by yobs just weeks into a £250,000 restoration project.
Police are investigating after vandals climbed scaffolding erected around St John's Church at Bierley, reached the 150-year-old tower and twisted two of its clock hands out of shape.
They also hurled newly-cut stone blocks from the 240-year-old church's roof into the graveyard, shattering them and damaging a headstone.
The damage was discovered by stonemasons carrying out the renovation when they arrived for work on Thursday morning.
Parishioners, who raised £20,000 toward the restoration, now face a new repair bill for the clock itself.
The Reverend Kevin Tromans said: "How stupid and how pathetic can people be that they want to do anything like that? I don't feel anger, just frustration.
"When the people of the church are spending all this time and effort to restore a landmark building and local oiks can come along and undo it, I find it sickening."
St John's is Grade II* listed and described by English Heritage as being a particularly important building of more than special interest.
It was designed by Sir John Carr of York as the private chapel of the Richardson family at Bierley Hall and became a public church in the early 1800s.
Recently the ageing building had reached the stage where it was in desperate need of restoration, and the scheme was finally given the go-ahead after £152,000 was awarded to it by English Heritage. The rest of the cash is being met by funds raised through the parish itself and grant money from other sources.
Work began just three weeks ago with stonemasons replacing weathered and cracked blocks in the church walls.
Scaffolding had been put up to allow the restoration team access to the higher parts of the building.
The vandals overcame a ten-foot-tall steel fence to get to the church.
Mr Tromans said: "It is a slap in the face to everyone who has invested time in this building. But everyone is set on getting the building restored so that we have one that may look like a 1700s church but is bang up-to-date in everything that it does."
A police spokesman said officers had launched an investigation.
"We have had scenes-of- crime officers investigating the area to see if any evidence has been left," said the spokesman.
"We are appealing for witnesses or anyone who has any information to contact us."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008