Fury as poppy wreaths are repeatedly torn down on war memorial at historic London church as reverend tells how its targeted by vandals ‘on a daily basis’

A furious clergyman is calling in police after a war memorial at one of Britain’s most historic churches has been targeted by vandals ‘on a daily basis’. 

Father Marcus Walker told how wreaths laid on Remembrance Sunday have been damaged after being repeatedly removed from a wall and hurled to the ground at St Bartholomew the Great near Smithfield Market in the city of London. 

Father Walker said he has arrived at the mediaeval church every morning for the past fortnight to find the five wreaths removed from hooks and scattered around the floor.

It is thought the attacker pounces in the dead of night after climbing over metal railings outside the memorial at the church which celebrated its 900th anniversary this year.

The church is the oldest in the capital surviving both the Great Fire of London and the blitz and featured in the hit movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. 

Father Marcus Walker claims a war memorial at one of Britain’s most historic churches has been targeted by vandals

Father Walker said he has arrived at the mediaeval church every morning for the past fortnight to find the five wreaths removed from hooks

Father Walker said he hopes police will be able to examine CCTV footage from nearby premises in a bid to stop the daily acts of vandalism. 

Father Walker told MailOnline: ”Every day you come in and they are all chucked on the ground. It’s very frustrating.

‘My feeling is that it is somebody who is hostile to the armed forces.

‘You’ve got to be pretty angry to want to take your anger out on the war dead.’

The clergyman spoke out after posting a picture of the latest attack on X, formerly Twitter.

The image showed the wreaths piled up on the ground beneath names of the fallen and an epitaph dedicated to the memory of ‘all the gallant men and women who fell in the Great War for the freedom of the world’.

He wrote in a caption: ‘Every single day somebody is pulling down the wreaths on the war memorial. This is getting exhausting.’

Father Walker has been rector at the church for six years and told how the attacks are the first of their kind.

He said: ‘We are going to contact the police. It’s either that or we are going to have to pull out the wreaths if it keeps going on and you don’t want to do that.

‘The wreaths were all laid on Remembrance Sunday. There are six of them, five of which hang on hooks on the wall which I put up in 2019.

‘We start at 10.55am outside the memorial then go into the church for a full service. There’s a little act of remembrance.

‘Normally the wreaths stay out the whole year without any trouble.

‘There has never been any concern then one day a couple of weeks ago I came in and found they were all chucked on the ground.

 ‘It was the same thing the next day then the next day and it has happened every day for the last few weeks.

Father Walker insisted he would not let the incident spoil the celebrations of the church which was founded in 1123 by a courtier of King Henry I

‘We don’t know what time they do it. We know it happens after we go home. We tend to close up at 5pm.

‘I normally notice when I come in in the morning around 9.30am but on Sunday it happened in the middle of the day between my going for lunch and coming back from lunch for the carol service.

‘It’s possible it is somebody who is mentally ill who needs help rather than punishment but it is possible it is somebody who is hostile to the country.

‘My guess is it’s somebody who walks past here every day and is annoyed to see a symbol they don’t like.

‘The church has cameras inside but there is nothing outside. There’s not an enormous amount you can do but I was wondering whether to set up our own little camera.

‘We are hoping to get hold of CCTV and will have to go through the police.’

Father Walker insisted he would not let the incident spoil the celebrations of the church which was founded in 1123 by a courtier of King Henry I alongside the next door St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

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