Police investigating a suspected arson attack at a vicarage believe that the fire was started by someone with a grudge against women priests.

The Reverend Yvonne Hobson, curate of Paul Church in the village of Paul, near Newlyn, Cornwall, called the fire brigade after a basket of logs kept in the porch of her home was set alight. The attack followed the delivery of a series of threatening letters written by someone with a hatred of women clergy.

The attack came four weeks after the Bishop of Truro, the Right Rev Bill Ind, appealed for information about the letters from the pulpit of the church. Jeremy Dowling, a spokesman for the Bishop, said: “A public announcement was made from the pulpit suggesting that anonymous letters had been received by Yvonne.

“The letters stopped after that, but in the past two weeks activities seem to have started again. It is uncertain whether this is a personal attack or an attack against women priests in general. There are no other incidents of male or female clergy being subjected to this kind of attack in Cornwall although there have been instances in other parts of the country. Sometimes people feel that God has deserted them and take it out on the priest.”

One letter left in a private church room was discovered by Mrs Hobson. He said: “We do not lock our churches and somebody came in and left a particularly frightening piece of hate mail in a vestry. We are not able to comment on the contents of a series of letters she has been sent which are now with the police.”

Mrs Hobson has been curate at Paul Church since July last year, but the problems did not start until June this year. A “particularly frightening” letter left in the vestry of the church prompted Bishop Ind to make the public appeal for help.

Mrs Hobson said yesterday: “The whole thing started about five months ago. It has been very difficult and the police are now involved. I can’t say any more. The whole thing is being handled by the diocese and the police.”

Detective Constable Simon Stone, of Penzance police, said: “The letters were threatening and all expressed anger at the Rev Hobson for being a female priest. We are taking them extremely seriously.” Trevor Walker, a member of the congregation, said that the attack had angered the community. “I spoke to Yvonne and told her that I was outraged that anyone could do anything so cowardly and snide,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is a sick mind that needs treatment which is manifesting itself in a criminal way.

“What we are worried about is that when they are caught it will be someone local who we all know.”

A spokesman for the Cornwall Fire Brigade said the fire had been started at Mrs Hobson’s home, where she lives with her husband, Donald, on November 12. “Two appliances from Penzance were mobilised to an incident where a fire was found in a log basket in the porch. Breathing apparatus and a hose reel was used to extinguish the fire,” he said.

Mrs Hobson took up the ministry late in life and was ordained in 2003 after studying theology at the University of Exeter. Paul Church has a congregation of between 90 and 100. The village has a population of 234 and sits on a hill outside Newlyn. The church was built in the 15th century and in 1595 survived an attack by Spanish invaders who set it on fire. The church’s oak beams still bear scorch marks from that blaze.