Police are searching for illegal metal detectorists after several holes were dug in the grounds of Roche Abbey, a Grade II-listed medieval site in South Yorkshire.
Ground workers discovered six holes at the abbey in Maltby, near Rotherham. South Yorkshire Police believe the damage occurred between 11 and 18 December.
No CCTV footage is available, and officers have appealed for anyone with information to contact them on 101.
Roche Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in 1147 and was pillaged in the 16th Century following the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. In the 1770s, the ruins became the centrepiece of formal gardens designed by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown for the Earls of Scarbrough.
The gardens were later dismantled, and the site returned to its medieval state in the 19th Century. After World War One, it was part of a public works programme for the unemployed. English Heritage has managed the site since 1984.
