A year of conservation work at Haverfordwest Priory destroyed in hours, Cadw says

Conservation work carried out over the past year at Haverfordwest Priory in Pembrokeshire has been destroyed by vandals in a matter of hours, Cadw said on Monday. The Welsh Government's historic environment service said its own stonemasons and contractors had spent the last 12 months on an extensive programme of masonry work at the priory. The recent cost of that work, much of which has now been destroyed, was just shy of £50,000, and Cadw says the full financial impact is still being counted.

Not an accident

Fleur Gordon, Cadw's Head of Properties in Care, said a year's work within the cloisters had been affected "in what appears to have been a concerted and determined act, rather than a careless accident". "It is frustrating to see such mindless vandalism," she said, calling it a crime and urging anyone who sees such incidents to report them to the police. Cadw said the volunteers and craftspeople who worked on the site, including a long-serving volunteer gardener and the masons, had been left disheartened. It has not said when the damage happened.

What counts as heritage crime

Cadw is using the case to ask people to watch for and report vandalism, anti-social behaviour and heritage crime at historic sites across Wales this half-term, as families head to its sites. It says heritage crime covers theft, vandalism, graffiti, arson, removing or rearranging archaeological material, unauthorised works, illegal metal detecting and off-roading, and that the cost of repairs diverts money from opening sites to more people and from other conservation projects. Incidents can be reported to the police on 101, or 999 if a crime is happening now.