A FOUR-bay barn and around 100 tons of straw were destroyed in a fire overnight on Saturday.

Firecrews were called at 11.22pm to the barn near Duggleby to the incident to find the fire well alight.

Richard and Kate Megginson, tenant farmers, said they believed the fire had been started deliberately : "The fire brigade were called by a passer by at 11.30 pm on Saturday night however they said it probably had been burning for a few hours. The gates from the main road were shut when the fire brigade arrived .

The Dutch barn was full of barley straw bales. Approximately 100 tons of straw and a bale trailer were destroyed as well as the four bay barn. The isolated location has no electricity or other services so the likelihood is that the fire was started deliberately."