A Celtic cross which stood outside the Anglican Cathedral in Hamilton has been smashed up in an act of mindless vandalism.

Overnight on Monday, determined vandals dragged the three-foot stone cross from its spot near the entrance and broke it into pieces.

Cathedral Canon Keith Wassall said yesterday he was appalled at such a pointless piece of destruction.

"I feel very angry and it is so frustrating because it is so mindless. It achieves nothing at all," he told The Royal Gazette.

"It has taken pretty strong people to do this because you can see the marks where they dragged it. It was a very determined effort to do this. Why do that? What's been achieved?"

Canon Wassall said the cross, which is now in about a dozen pieces, is probably beyond repair. "I think it's finished," he said.

He said the cross once perched on the Cathedral roof and was taken down for safety reasons about 15 years ago. He did not know how old the cross was, but he assumed it dated from around 1911, when the Cathedral was consecrated.

Historian Joyce Hall said she thought the cross was much more ancient, and been brought from an older damaged church in England to forge a link with the Island. She said however that she had no solid information on the cross' age.