One of the most historic churches in Staffordshire is having to lock its doors for the first time in centuries after becoming a target for vandals.

St Chad’s Church in Lichfield – parts of which date back to the 12th century – is usually open to visitors from 9am until dusk.

But now the doors to the building are shut tight at 1pm after a series of attacks.

The Rev Robert Bull, rector at St Chad’s, said he was being met by a huge mess in the church on an almost daily basis. He said he was “deeply saddened”, but assured the community in Lichfield that the closure was a temporary situation.

“It is not by any means a permanent decision,” Mr Bull said, “We were advised by police who felt it was probably a liability to have the doors open.

“It was very petty but it was very persistent,” he said, “Mindless vandals were creating a huge amount of mess, you never knew when you went in to the church if you were going to have to spend an hour cleaning up.”

Mr Bull said he believes in open churches and was upset at having to shut people out of St Chad’s.

“From our point of view we want to extend hospitality, but at the moment we cannot open the church as liberally as we were able to do in the past.

“The church is a place where people find sanctuary and that is very important. This is only while we let things settle.”

Chad was Lichfield’s first bishop from the year 669 until his death in 672. It is believed his church was somewhere on the site of the present cathedral, and that the existing church at Stowe was the site of his house.