Moira Furnace Museum and Country Park has been hit by a spate of vandalism - just weeks after thousands of pounds worth of equipment was stolen from a container at the visitor attraction.

The venue near Ashby has reported a number of incidents including a bird box, a bench, a ripped out post and, most recently, locked-in drivers trying to get past the car park barrier and destroying a fence and trees in the process.

This comes after an incident in April when a range of machinery used to maintain the grounds around the site was in a late night robbery.

A crowdfunding page was set up to raise money to try to replace the equipment and that is still open HERE.

But a series of messages on the Furnace's social media page shows the frustration of officials and volunteers alike.

Danage has been caused across the site over the past few weeks. Vandalism photos courtesy of Moira Furnace & Country Park

The most recent describes what happened last weekend at the Crescent car park in Moira.

It reads: "Thank you to the truly careless, thoughtless people who got their cars locked into the Crescent car park - one on Saturday night and one on Sunday night - and decided they would just drive around the barriers, the main entrance to the Crescent car park, and the Shortheath Road barrier, destroying foliage, trees, and our fence, taking some yellow paint and leaving parts of the underside of their cars in the process.

"There are lovely big signs on the entrances to both car parks clearly stating the closing times - currently 7pm - and that people will be able to retrieve their cars in the morning.

"The volunteer who locks the barriers often comes later than 7pm to give people a chance to leave and, if there is a car still there, often gives them the benefit of the doubt, coming back 5-10 minutes later.

"If the car is still there, our volunteer has got a life and, unfortunately, cannot hang around waiting for people who have been off enjoying themselves and have forgotten the time.

"We really don't think this is an excuse to then destroy hedges and fences to get out. No attempt was made to contact anyone from the trust, no phone calls, no social media messages, nothing. In the past, we have had families who have had genuine reasons for being late back who have contacted us on Facebook - the best way to get hold of us out of hours - and we have been able to help them out."

Furnace officials added: "It's only just June and we are already getting the vandals targeting our site.

"This is getting silly as they've even targeted the wildlife, destroying one of the bird boxes!

"Please, if this is you, or you've seen a car with half its underside missing or yellow paint scratched down the left side, do the right thing, own up, and help us pay to repair the fence. We haven't recovered from the robbery yet.

"We have over 9,000 followers on Facebook alone who we are looking towards now for help and support. Spread the word, share, and help us if you can. The GoFundMe has reached a massive £1,176 but we are always happy to receive more as this does not cover the cost of replacing the equipment."

Last month, the Furnace reported more vandalism at the popular tourist attraction.

It posted: "It's silly season once again! With the longer days and the nice weather, it seems it brings out the silly people and we experience anti-sociable behaviour and vandalism.

"This week we have had a bench broken in the woods and now a post mindlessly ripped out of the ground and thrown in the canal. We had to fish it out this morning.

"The kicker here was that the person doing it was being watched by one of our volunteers and someone out on a run.

"Despite the volunteer's best efforts to ask the young person to stop, they continued anyway. We understand teenagers are hard to keep track of, they are off exploring the world and being independent, which is great, and all a part of growing up, but they really don't need to be mindlessly vandalising property, especially property that belongs to a charity. What have we ever done to them?

"If you are ever on-site and see something like this happening, we would advise you not to engage with the individuals but take pictures and report it to the police."