IRREPLACEABLE sculptures have been destroyed in an arson attack on a moorland chapel built as a memorial to aspiring artists killed in the Second World War.

Investigations are ongoing, but four youths were seen running away as the blaze took hold in the annexe attached to the Scotch Corner Chapel above the village of Oldstead near Sutton Bank on the North York Moors.

Wooden sculptures stored in the building were destroyed. The chapel was built by sculptor John Bunting in the mid 1950s as a labour of love and memorial to pupils at Ampleforth College, where he studied and later taught.

Mr Bunting's son, Bernard, drove up from London to assess the damage. He said: "Why would anyone carry out such a meaningless and mindless attack? We are thankful that the chapel itself is undamaged, but very sad at the loss of some of his works in wood that were stored in the building."

Fire crews managed to confine the fire to the annexe but could not save several of the statues.

Mr Bunting had built the chapel out of the ruins of an old farmstead on the site, carving angels to decorate the front, and inside the chapel he lay a life-size effigy of a soldier in paratrooper's helmet and commando boots.

It was devoted to former Ampleforth pupils Hugh Dormer, Michael Allmand and Michael Fenwick, who all died as young soldiers in the Second World War. All three had had artistic ambitions as poets and writers. A fourth name was added when former pupil Robert Nairac was killed while serving in Armagh in 1977.

The site, which does not have a road to it, has become a popular spot for walkers who stop to admire the special building which has a public footpath running close by.

Born in 1927 in London, John Bunting was evacuated to Yorkshire and sent to Ampleforth, a leading Roman Catholic boarding school formerly run by the Benedictine Monks.

Influenced by renowned furniture maker Robert Mouseman Thompson at nearby Kilburn, he attended Oxford University and later went to Saint Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art before taking up a post at Ampleforth.

The land is also associated with the Battle of Byland where legend has it that in the 14th Century King Edward II's army was defeated by the Scots.