Volunteers have slammed ‘mindless idiots’ who caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to a brand new Heritage Lottery-funded trail.

The Stanhill Heritage trail at Knuzden playing fields was only formally opened two months ago and planned walks had not even got underway.

The attraction was made possible by a £32,300 grant and funds raised within the community and was opened by the Mayor Tim O’Kane in July.

Richard Hooper, one of the project leaders, slammed those responsible for damage to the trail, which included damage to information panels and theft of stone slabs.

He said: “This happened just a week before our first planned heritage walk. The panels are expensive, they cost around £700 each.

"It must have taken substantial physical effort. We also observed destruction to adjacent trees and other acts of vandalism.

“A number of stone slabs have been stolen from the wall at the memorial garden, where the heritage trail starts. We noticed a few were missing, then a few days later more of them had vanished.”

He added: “We are not giving in to this and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

"It has taken three years of effort and £36,000 of Heritage Lottery and private and council funding to celebrate our historic area and it will take more than a few mindless idiots to spoil this.”

St Oswald’s ward councillor Paul Thompson said the vandalism was ‘absolutely criminal’.

He added: “Some people have absolutely no respect, after all the effort that the committee put in to get the trail up and running.”

The three-and-a-half mile trail features six presentation boards in and around the village complete with QR codes, which when scanned takes users to their dedicated website.

The project leaders: Richard Hooper and Andy Barnes, both members of the Stanhill Village Residents and Fete Committee

Stanhill was the home of James Hargreaves, who invented one of the most famous and innovative spinning machines, the Spinning Jenny in 1764.

The project also tells the story of famous local people such as William Bury Westall, the Victorian novelist who lived at Stanhill Hall, and William ‘Parsley’ Peel the famous calico print pioneer and sponsor of Hargreaves.

Over the next year a programme of community events – workshops, talks and demonstrations - are scheduled to be held to contribute to the village’s history.