Museum staff 'devastated' as vandals target fort

Doors and roofs were damaged and vandalised

A North Yorkshire museum director has said it was "devastating" to find one of its attractions had been vandalised.

Craig Benton said the Roman Fort at Murton Park, near York, was “broken into and smashed up” on Sunday 23 June.

Murton Park is an open-air museum that houses four reconstructed historical sites including a Roman fort, Viking village and prehistoric village.

Mr Benton said the damage had put “so much pressure on us financially”.

He said: “We made the discovery on the Monday morning, just half an hour before our first set of school visitors were due to arrive.

“The doors, roofs and fences of the site had been smashed in, so there wasn’t much time to come up with an alternative educational day.

“We don’t know how we can stop this from happening again, unless we put up cameras.”

The park is part of Yorkshire Museum of Farming, which is a charity that has been operating for more than 40 years with a mission to preserve Yorkshire’s farming history.

The building damage at the Roman Fort at Murton Park

Mr Benton said to help with maintenance and running costs of the site, a team of staff at the park were planning to walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall dressed in Roman military uniforms on Saturday 27 July.

This will raise money for the maintenance of the museum sites, as well as Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

So far, they have raised just over £1,200, but Mr Benton said that “we don’t want to have to dip into funds to pay for the restoration of the fort as we will have to pay for the damage ourselves”.

North Yorkshire Police has been contacted for more information.

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