Plans to give Burnham-On-Sea’s historic Manor House a £250,000 refurbishment suffered a setback this week when vandals caused widespread damage inside the building.
Burnham-based Watermark Financial Solutions took over the building last year and work is currently underway on a major revamp.
However, the property was broken into on Monday night and vandals caused significant damage, as pictured here.
“It appears that the intruders took a hammer to almost every newly plastered wall in the upstairs of the building, smashed internal glass doors and also smashed a number of internal wooden doors,” Mark Woods, owner of the building, told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“Our contractors remove all their tools every day so there was nothing in the building to steal. It appears to be a purely malicious attempt to cause damage.”
“Being an old building we have already suffered a number of setbacks during the refurbishment and used up our contingency funds on unforeseen issues with the structure. This latest set back is a nuisance and will cost around £1,000 to rectify.”
Mr Woods, right, added that police have identified some good evidence and the forensic team are now working to establish the identity of the culprits.
He added: “When I received the call informing me of the incident I wasn’t actually surprised. There is an element of our local community that couldn’t care less about the aggravation they cause others.”
“They shirk responsibility and lack the moral fibre to respect our local environment and other people’s property. It is so cowardly and immature; they should be ashamed of themselves, yet I fear that people with this mentality are able to sleep at night because that chip on their shoulder allows them to justify such actions in their own minds. It’s mindless behaviour from deluded individuals.”
“Watermark is here in Burnham trying to create local jobs for local people. Who knows, one day we may even employ someone related to the culprits. That would be ironic!”
Anyone with information about the identity of the vandals should contact Burnham Police by dialling the non-emergency number 101.
The Manor House and gardens were sold to Burnham Urban District Council in April 1904, then in 1974 Sedgemoor District Council took over the building for offices. The house was sold in February 2000 to the Ashfield Trust, while the gardens remained in Sedgemoor’s hands. However, when the Ashfield Trust moved out in 2010, the building was put up for sale and it was not sold until early this year.
Pictured: Top, one of the wooden boards that was thrust through a glass door inside the Manor House during Monday’s break-in; centre, Mark Woods; and above a hammer was used to damage the plastered walls
