Last updated at 20:13, Thursday, 19 July 2012

Damage worth thousands of pounds has been caused by vandals at Maryport’s Senhouse Roman Museum.

‘WANTON VANDALISM’: Jane Laskey, curator of the Senhouse Roman Museum, Maryport, with some of the old prints that were damaged in the watchtower attack

Part of the museum’s watchtower may have to be dismantled and replaced after youths broke in on Saturday evening.

Jane Laskey, curator, said she was horrified when she arrived on Sunday to find that plasterboard walls had been kicked in and prints of historic events pulled off the wall and thrown into a nearby field.

It is believed the vandals had been drinking and smoking inside.

The watchtower had to be closed because attempts had been made to lift up wooden platforms, from which visitors can look over the Solway Firth.

She said: “We don’t know how much it will cost to repair the damage but it does look as though some of the watchtower will have to be dismantled in order to get it fixed.

“We were lucky that some helpful joiners were willing to make the walkways safe so we could open to the public again.”

She added: “The museum is one of Maryport’s greatest assets and it is so disheartening to see this wanton and totally pointless vandalism.”

The Watchtower was erected in 2000 as the museum’s millennium project.

Anyone with information should call police on 101.

First published at 19:20, Thursday, 19 July 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk