Two Somerset churches targeted by vandals

Wincanton Parish Church had its lead roof vandalised during an attempted theft on 28 July

Two churches in Somerset have been vandalised over the past week.

Wincanton Parish Church had its lead roof vandalised during an attempted theft, and St Peter's Church, in Priorswood, Taunton, had a stained glass window broken.

Wincanton church warden Judy Chiplen said their church has only recently finished paying £170k for previous repairs to the roof and church tower.

Reverend of St Peter's Debbi Turley told BBC Somerset: "I was very cross to start with but sometimes you just have to ask the question – why do people do this?"

On 28 July, Ms Chiplen came to open up Wincanton church for the Sunday service.

She found large pieces of lead in the church yard and quickly realised it was from the roof.

Ms Chiplen said: "We didn't know whether the roof had been disturbed or when they [the vandals] took it off they realised it was too heavy to take away.

"We have been told it will be many thousands to fix," she said. "We're not a rich church - our congregation give us as much as they can to keep our church going and we'll do our best but it's not going to be easy."

St Peter's Church in Priorswood was found with a window smashed on 4 August

Similarly, on 4 August Rev Turley arrived at her church to find what she thought to be flower petals around the alter.

She said: "It turned out to be glass - I looked up and we'd lost several panes of glass in our stained glass window which was a bit devastating on a Sunday morning.

"We have no idea how much it's going to be for a window," she said. "A few hundred is still a lot of us but we're going to raise enough money to put some clear acrylic over the window."

'Absolutely amazing'

Rev Turley, who moved to Taunton 10 years ago, said on Facebook "nothing will stop me loving this place.

"It started out as a bad news story but I've started a JustGiving page and this community, and Taunton, and actually across to the USA, have been absolutely amazing.

"I have been overwhelmed by people who want to help us."

Wincanton Parish Church has a JustGiving link on their website and St Peter's JustGiving can be searched for on the JustGiving website.