A man with two axes smashed up a 12th Century abbey north of London on Friday, injuring two people and breaking several stained-glass windows.
Canon Martin Webster, rector of Waltham Abbey, said the “frenzied attack” was brief but the damage to the historic building was enormous.
Essex police said they arrested a 47-year-old suspect, who was being questioned.
Webster said the attacker broke windows, pulpits, the organ console and the altar at the abbey, which boasts some of the finest Norman architecture in England.
The abbey is widely known as the resting place of King Harold, who was the last Saxon king of England. He was killed by an arrow in the eye at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Church officials estimated the damage at $320,000.
“Virtually no part of the church was left undamaged,” Webster told British Broadcasting Corp. television. “It is going to take a long time to sort this out.”
He said the attack appeared to arise from a dispute the man engaged in outside the abbey, 13 miles north of London. After assaulting two people and damaging vehicles, the suspect burst into the church and began his rampage.
Abbey warden Linda Jewson told the BBC: “He ran into the abbey wielding two axes and literally ran amok in the church and wrecked it.”
Webster said off-duty police officers who were in the church called for help and moved people to safety.
A 62-year-old man was taken to a hospital after Friday’s rampage with cuts to his head and back that were described as serious but not life-threatening.
Police said a 53-year-old man suffered a bump to his head but did not require hospital treatment.
