Vandals have smashed up decorative seats which form part of a community area for East Oxford residents.
The three seats in the churchyard of SS Mary and John Church, Cowley Road, will cost up to £1,000 to repair. They formed part of a major regeneration project in the churchyard which has seen the area, formerly a haven for drug users, transformed into a community and wildlife space.
Ruth Conway, co-ordinator of the restoration project, said: "Immediately after the Bank Holiday we were alerted to the fact the three seats in front of the church had been vandalised.
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"The concrete cast tops have been ripped off their stone bases and thrown on the ground.
"Each of the seats has two concrete slabs on the top and embedded in those slabs is mosaic lettering. One of those has been smashed, destroying the lettering which of course can only be repaired by the artist doing a completely new slab.
"I was sickened when I found out because ever since the seats have been installed they have been well-used by the community.
"Children enjoy playing on the stepping stones next to it and you often see parents with children taking a moment just to sit and rest.
"To find it smashed in this way, which will take time and money to restore, I feel is a blow to the local community and a discouragement in terms of the effort that's gone into creating this place."
Over the same period, vandals smashed several panes of stained glass in the church, which is currently closed while the interior undergoes a major revamp.
Organisers had been in the process of installing grilles to make the valuable windows more secure.
Mrs Conway said: "The whole strategy for the total churchyard was to try and make it an attractive, quiet, green space in the middle of a busy, urban area in the hope that people would respect it.
"It's just sickening and I would want whoever it was to pause and thing of how their actions have affected other people."
The damage was done at some point between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
Church staff are keen for anyone who saw anything suspicious to contact police on 08458 505505 or the anonymous Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555111.
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