Sandstone wall pulled down by vandals
VANDALS are believed to have wrecked an ancient sandstone wall in a Runcorn conservation area.
Cheshire Constabulary said officers received a report that the structure, which runs alongside steps from The Underway to Halton Castle and Castle Road at the top, was damaged at some time between noon on Friday, January 14, and the following day.
The main section of damage is now strewn with rubble and exposed stone and earth.
A smaller area of sandstone appears to have been removed and plugged with mismatched grey breezeblock close to the steps’ exit to The Underway.
There is further damage on The Underway itself with a gap marking the spot where a stone block has been removed, although it is not clear if this was taken recently or is connected to the other damage.
The location of the vandalism is in the middle of the Halton Village conservation area.
According to a Halton Borough Council management plan for the area published in 2008, the sandstone in the wall may have once been part of Halton Castle itself, built in 1070, and is “likely” to have been used in structures even older than that.
It said: “Red sandstone walls are evident throughout a large proportion of the village and feature as boundaries to some of the older buildings in the village, as well as to some of the more modern properties.
“These walls are significant as they provide a continuous frontage and enclosure to the roads within much of the village.
“As discussed earlier, it is possible that the importance of these walls is not purely aesthetic: it may be the case that stone from the castle was used to construct them and many are likely to be the last remnants of earlier developments.
“Many of these walls also maintain historic property boundaries in the village.”
A Cheshire police spokeswoman said: “A report was received that at sometime between midday on Friday, January 14, Saturday, January 15, unknown offenders have damaged a sandstone wall of a property which backs onto a public footpath off Castle Road.
“Anyone with information is asked to report it via cheshire.police.uk/tell-us or call Cheshire Police on 101 quoting IML 1179993.”
Cllr Ellen Cargill, Labour, Halton Castle ward, said she had not been aware of the damage until being contacted by the Weekly News said she would report it and “have it inspected ASAP”.
Although the cause is unknown, she said the area had been hit by youth antisocial behaviour such as lighting fires in the runup to Christmas.