A COUNTRY church was the victim of vandalism at the weekend when dozens of graves, some of them almost 300 years old, were desecrated.

Members of St Agatha's church at Easby, near Richmond, were distressed to discover on Saturday that tombstones, some dating back to the early 18th century, had been destroyed. The attack is believed to have happened in the early hours.

Parishioners who spent last Friday afternoon preparing for harvest festival said all was well when they left the church at about 5pm.

Mr Michael Drury, churchwarden, said; "Some of the older gravestones have been rocked backwards and forwards and we might have to think about lying them flat as the cheapest option."

Two of the vandalised graves belong to Lord Zetland's family, of the Aske estate, near Richmond. Another marked the resting place of a teenage leukaemia victim. Some stones and memorials are so badly damaged it is thought they are unlikely ever to be repaired.

Mr Drury said the family of the 18-year-old leukaemia victim, who did not want to be identified, had just finished mourning the first anniversary of his death.

"There were flowers on the grave but they have been destroyed," he said.

"There is an old cemetery and a new cemetery and they have obviously gone rampaging around in both. Between 25 and 30 tombstones have been damaged.

"The odd thing is that, although the vandals went into the porch, they didn't disturb flowers and harvest decorations in there."

Three of the damaged gravestones in the new cemetery were reassembled by local stonemasons on Monday and two more are likely to be repairable.

"I have received several calls from people who live out of the area but had heard about the vandalism from newspaper and radio reports and were worried about their relatives' graves," said Mr Drury. "I was able to give good news in some cases but bad in others."

It was likely to cost about £1,000 to repair those stones which could be repaired, but others were broken beyond rescue.

"You can't knit together a lovely old piece of sandstone that has been shattered," he said.

The Rev Ruth Wigram, vicar of Easby, said: "People are very distressed and angry and so am I that these people can go down to the ruins of Easby abbey, which is such an attractive place, and cause this wanton destruction. They have caused a lot of relatives of these people very considerable distress."

Police looking into the incident found drink cans in the area and a spokesman said investigations were continuing