COUNCILLORS are being called on to protect historic paintings that escaped being destroyed when flames engulfed an empty Ulverston mansion.

A series of 19th century murals still hang at the unoccupied Stone Cross Mansion at Daltongate, where fire fighters spent eight hours tackling a blaze found well alight at 8pm on Friday.

Detectives arrested a 13-year-old Ulverston boy on suspicion of arson on the night of the fire. He has since been released on bail without charge while police carry out further investigations.

But the fire, which has gutted the main tower and the east wing's second floor, has prompted a different line of inquiry by the building's former occupants, Marl International.

Managing director Adrian Rawlinson has fired off a letter to South Lakeland District Council demanding to know why three large murals he believes are an important part of Ulverston's heritage have not been safeguarded.

The artworks, which are on wooden-framed canvases fixed to the walls, were on the opposite side of the building to the fire, but Mr Rawlinson was distressed to discover they were still there at all.

The paintings were done by Lucien Victor Besche in around 1880 and depict the family that is believed to have built Stone Cross in scenes from a Shakespearean tragedy.

"What is the real shock to me is that so little effort has been made to protect the building or, as a minimum, the valuable artworks," he said.

"I would call for the appropriate sections of SLDC to come out from behind the rule book and co-ordinate decisive action by negotiating with the current owners for the artworks to be removed immediately from the building so that they can be stored in a safe place, and hopefully restored and displayed in an appropriate location in Ulverston."

But SLDC felt his comments were misdirected.

"It's the owners responsibility to maintain the building," said the council's conservation officer Graham Darlington.

"The council has certain powers it can take if it's thought the building is deteriorating. We have written to the owners in January and February and highlighted our concerns."

Persimmon Homes, which now owns Stone Cross, partially responded by installing new security on the ground floor but vandals have been getting in via roof lights upstairs.

The firm has not yet reacted to a council request submitted three to four weeks ago to carry out a risk assessment; arrange on site 24-hour security; stop leaks to protect masonry; and commission a report from a fine art expert on the safe removal of the paintings.

Since the fire, Mr Darlington has faxed Persimmon demanding immediate additional security to protect the paintings from vandals and thieves.

He has also repeated warnings contained in his previous two letters that if there was no response, SLDC would carry out the work and send Persimmon the bill.

"It's a very important building, it's listed as Grade II so it's considered to be of national importance," said Mr Darlington.

"It's thought to be the work of Ulverston Victorian architect J. Grundy. It's part of the town's social and industrial heritage."

No one from Persimmon was available for comment.