POLICE have warned treasure hunters to keep their metal detectors away from a famous Rossendale landmark.

Council gardeners have found more than 200 holes in the ground near Stubbylee Hall, in Stubbylee Park, Bacup.

It is believed they have been looking for buried jewellery and a golden chalice from a monk settlement on the site in 850AD.

Warning signs have now been placed around the park and police patrols stepped up after the metal detector enthusiasts entered the grounds during the night.

Jason Foster, head of operational services at Rossendale Council, said: “There has been a significant increase in the number of people using metal detectors in Stubbylee Park over the last three months, with many digging the ground up and leaving it in a poor state.

“Unauthorised digging spoils the enjoyment of the park for other visitors, and people using the park legitimately might get injured.

“The digging can also cause expensive damage to the ride-on mowers we use, and our staff have to spend time flattening, and filling, holes when they could be doing something more productive.

“There are many hidden treasures to be found in Ross-endale but you do not have to dig up Stubbylee Park to find them.”

Stubbylee Hall was the seat of the Holt family, an offshoot of the Holts of Grizzlehurst.

The hall includes a centre porch of Ionic engaged columns, flanking curved bays, and a domed staircase.

James Maden Holt occupied the hall until his death in 1911 and bequeathed Stubbylee Hall, and its grounds, to Bacup.

The Holt estates originally covered all the south side of the river Irwell from Cowpe across Brandwood Moor to Shawforth and Sharneyford.

Greensclough PCSO Nick Stratton said: “Technically it is vandalism.

"These people have been digging in areas they shouldn't be in.

"If they are caught, we will charge them with a criminal offence.”