POLICE are investigating following complaints of youngsters climbing on an historic ruined kirk which is nearly 1,000 years old.

Reports were passed to officers in Haddington about youths gathering at St Martin’s Kirk, between Whittingehame Drive and Bullet Loan.

PC Lynn Black discussed the incidents during a meeting of Haddington and Lammermuir Community and Police Partnership (CAPP).

The officer noted the potential injury youngsters could suffer if they fell from the building and added: “It is obviously another wee congregating place.”

Complaints also suggested that alcohol was being consumed in the area, as well as noise being generated.

PC Black planned to discuss the issue with Calum Colquhoun, one of East Lothian Council’s community wardens. The officer highlighted the location’s proximity to the town’s skate park, where youths often gather.

She added: “I know in the past people were asking if there was a way it could be fenced off.”

The group’s next meeting is Monday at 6.30pm in Haddington Town House.

St Martin’s Kirk was built in the 1100s and is described by Historic Environment Scotland as “a fine Romanesque ruin” which “John Knox may have attended services as a boy. The church’s chancel was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in 1560, of which Knox was the primary architect”.