Vandals took a heavy hammer to the heart of the Sussex Downs and mindlessly smashed a marble monument.

One of the arms was broken off Harvey's Cross, which is on a remote track a mile and a half north of Saltdean.

The vandals had tried to completely demolish the 6ft monument.

It was covered in hammer marks and an attempt had been made to obliterate the black inscription.

A stonemason has estimated that full restoration of the white marble monument would cost £3,000.

The cross was restored in 1999 following a campaign by local historian and author Douglas d'Enno.

He is angry and disgusted vandals appeared to have targeted the remote cross for no reason.

Mr d'Enno said: "I just cannot understand why someone would carry a hammer one and a half miles into the countryside in the middle of winter to smash up a monument.

"There is nothing controversial about Harvey's Cross. The person it is dedicated to did not even live in the area, so there can be no grudge against his family.

"It is amazing someone would want to do this. It is a completely pointless attack. "

The cross is a memorial to John Harvey of Ickwell, Bedfordshire, who died at the spot on June 20 1819. It is believed he was killed in a fall from his horse.

He was colonel of the 9th Lancers and a frequent visitor to nearby Rottingdean. The father-of-five was only 48 when he died.

His wealthy Bedfordshire family decided to build the monument to him, but it fell into disrepair and was used it for target practice by Canadian soldiers billeted in Rottingdean and Saltdean during the Second World War.

Mr d'Enno researched the history of the monument after seeing it on maps.

He and John Harvey's descendants raised £4,000 to restore the cross and a ceremony was held in June 1999 to mark its restoration.