CHURCH authorities took down 16 gravestones - only to reinstate them hours later after the public made their anger clear.

The churchwardens at Holy Trinity Church, Tidworth, were acting on a directive from the Church of England. It requires church authorities to inspect headstones to ensure they are safe.

Joe Storton, a 67-year-old from Vockins Close, has both parents and his wife Margaret buried in the churchyard. "My stones were not touched.

"But at first I thought there had been vandals in the churchyard - so did a neighbour whose wife is also buried here and he called the police," he said.

"Are these people qualified to say which stone is safe?" District councillor Andrew Connolly, said: "I was alerted to what had happened and was horrified by the destruction.

"I think their actions were unnecessary. "Some of the graves were well tended and had stones only about 18 inches high.

"I understand there is a directive about this but it mentions the word consultation and there have been no consultations with the families.

"I recognise the wardens were only doing what they felt was best but the insensitivity of this action is beyond belief. "The church has a lot of explaining to do to angry relatives."

However the vicar, Malcolm Freeman, said he hadn't received a single call of complaint.

"We have a duty of care to everyone who enters the churchyard - even to vandals who may come in here at night," he said.

"It was decided to inspect the stones to see how safe they were, to lay the stones over very gently and put up notices saying what had happened.

"In all good faith we were thinking of the safety of the many people who come here, including young children who may run about in the churchyard."

Mr Freeman said he 'put his hand up' to a lack of consultation.

However, in a number of cases the memorials are from many decades ago and it was not possible to locate families for the purposes of consultation although he welcomed the opportunity to hear the views of concerned relatives.

A Salisbury Diocese spokeswoman, said: "The responsibility for the safety of all visitors to churchyards rests with clergy and parochial church councils.

"Monuments, trees and paths should be regularly inspected and if a monument is found to be unstable, remedial action should be taken immediately."