The vehicles are causing widespread and lasting damage

Drivers of four-wheel drive vehicles are damaging the site of a Roman settlement in the River Avon, heritage campaigners say.

Some visitors to Easton Grey, near Malmesbury, swerve off paths and drive through the river for fun.

But they are driving over an ancient site, where almost 2,000 years ago traders with pack horses and messengers on business would stop to rest.

English Heritage said the drivers were breaking the law, making deep ruts, and could destroy rare remains likely to be under the river banks.

The use of 4x4 vehicles along this stretch of the River Avon causes serious ecological damage Martin Frayling Environment Agency

Barriers and bollards have been erected, but some people have even ploughed through them.

English Heritage has joined Wiltshire County Council, Wiltshire Police, the Environment Agency and local landowners to call for an halt to the trend.

English Heritage's inspector of ancient monuments Phil McMahon said: "In spite of repeated attempts to prevent vehicle access to the banks, a hard core of 4x4 drivers persist in tearing up the barriers.

"These drivers don't seem to care about the massive damage they are causing.

"We would like the wider community to be aware of the threat to their heritage and environment and to be vigilant in reporting any suspicious activity."

Important wildlife

Parts of buildings from the Roman town are still visible in nearby fields.

The River Avon and its banks are an important site for wildlife, including brown trout and the endangered white-clawed crayfish, which was reintroduced after it was almost wiped out by disease in the 1980s.

Martin Frayling, from the Environment Agency, said: "The use of 4x4 vehicles along this stretch of the River Avon causes serious ecological damage.

"Fish spawning grounds are being damaged by vehicles which stir up silt and crayfish survival is put at risk through the destruction of the riverbank where crayfish make their burrows."