RESIDENTS in North Tawton have this week expressed shock, after their ancient parish church was attacked by vandals last weekend.

Saint Peter's Church, which is more than 750 years old, was vandalised during the evening on Saturday, September 12.

Graffiti was painted on the outside of its walls and doors, and comments were written on the headstones in the graveyard.

Residents from the village, where the hit BBC TV series Jam and Jerusalem is filmed, were left shocked and disappointed after the weekend attacks.

The Rev Brian Ardill said the damage had affected a lot of people.

He said: 'Myself and the village are horrified.

'People think highly of their church building, being a place where God is worshipped and Christ exalted.

'Whoever did it has seemed to treat it very trivially.

'I saw it around 8.30am on Sunday and I couldn't believe my eyes.

'We are looking to see how to take it off because we don't want to destroy the building and don't know exactly what sort of paint was used.'

Mr Ardill urged whoever caused the vandalism to come forwards.

He said: 'On one of the doors, someone had written, God lives here.

'Well, they were right about that and I would urge whoever did it to please come forward or to even leave a note saying what type of paint they used, so we know what to use to get it off.'

Mr Ardill said it was important they got the church cleaned in the next two weeks.

He added: 'We have a wedding coming up in about two weeks time — a lovely couple from North Tawton.

'Obviously they know about what's happened and are worried how it will look in their photo's.

'It's a very ancient church and it goes way back, we hope to get it cleaned up as soon as possible.'

Owner of The Bay Tree Cafe, Wendy Hill, said she felt saddened by the attacks.

She said: 'A lot of people visit the town, especially people who follow Jam and Jerusalem.

'They, along with everybody else, are disgusted by the attacks.

'We don't normally get any trouble in the village, but a few buildings in the last week have been graffitied.'

PC Evans from Okehampton Police Station said he was confident the culprits would be caught.

He said: 'It's very rare that this sort of thing happens in a village like North Tawton and it has been quite upsetting for all those involved with the church and the residents.

'Police have seized items related to the graffiti and we are confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Churchwarden, Paul Andrews, said: 'I am very disappointed because if we are not careful, it will tar many of the young people of North Tawton with a bad reputation.

'I think that 99% of the young people in North Tawton are valuable members of our community, but we could get all of that ruined by a very small minority.

'I've been on the church council for many years and we haven't had any problems whatsoever and now we have had this silliness, which ruins it for everybody.

'It would be nice to think the people involved could see the errors of their ways and come and help clean it off.

'I hope it's not anything that's going to carry on — it's caused a great deal of upset in the village because many people love the church.'