THERE was outrage this week after it emerged that Malmesbury’s historic Market Cross had been sprayed with pink graffiti after the town's Friday late-night Christmas shopping evening.

The 525-year-old Grade I listed structure was smeared with what is believed to be chalk spray.

The scrawls have mainly been washed off by rain, although there are fears that the porous stone of one the region’s finest market crosses could suffer lasting damage.

The Mayor of Malmesbury John Gundry described the incident as a “deplorable” act of vandalism while local residents expressed their outrage on local Facebook sites.

As a police investigation got underway Coun Gundry said: “I absolutely deplore this. This is an abhorrent act. I hope the culprit is quickly found and punished.”

He said he was surprised that such an historic and important structure was targeted and appalled at the lack of respect shown by the perpetrator.

It is understood that the octagonal cross that was built in 1490 at the top of the High Street, was sprayed overnight on Friday.

One resident posted on Facebook that she saw a group of lads hanging around the cross at around midnight and that one of them had a chalk spray can that he shouted he had acquired earlier.

Another local woman, Diane Murphy, posted: “Really disgusted. Spotted it today and was shocked. It doesn’t matter that it comes off easy or not – the point is that whoever did it doesn’t care.”

Mollie Reynolds added: “It’s the lack of respect that everyone is complaining about.”

Locally referred to as the Birdcage, one of the structure’s key functions was to shelter the town’s “poor market folk” from the rain.