A TINY village community is rallying around after its historic church was stripped of thousands of pounds’ worth of slates.

Thieves struck at the Church of St Lawrence in Besselsleigh, alongside the A420, between Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

The 12th-century building was shorn of hundreds of tiles from an area about 10m by 2m, leaving the parish to foot a repair bill estimated at between £5,000 and £10,000.

But the community in the 29-house village has already pledged a reward of at least £1,000 for any information leading to a prosecution.

Rev Lyn Sapwell, the priest in charge at the church, said: “It’s just sickening that someone can do this. It’s a lovely little community and the church is very important to it, and the church building itself is very important historically.”

She said: “Perhaps, someone is stealing them to order, they’ve clearly gone for the tiles for something and if anybody knows about it we would love to hear from them. Like a lot of rural churches it’s off the beaten track and there is no residence on site for people to keep an eye on it.”

The tiles, which come from Stonesfield, were discovered missing on Wednesday morning by neighbouring landowner John May and his wife.

The grass outside the church had been trampled and it is believed the thieves climbed up the porch to access the roof.

Mr May said: “These tiles have been on the church for centuries. They’ve been through two world wars and all that has happened around it, and suddenly modern society has brought about this theft. The tiles cannot be replaced. There will be a whole patch of the roof that will look new for the next 300 years.”

Churchwarden Jane Cranston said: “I’m angry and I’m sad.

“People might think of it as theft without a victim because nobody’s hurt but it’s robbing us of history.

“We do struggle as a little church financially and one of our fears is that our insurance will go walloping up. I do hope it’s not the final straw, but it could be.”

She added: “We’re a small but very strong little community and the village is looking at ways to make the area safer.”

Anybody with information can call police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.