Stolen church treasure found in Tickhill field

A VALUABLE Victorian artefact stolen by burglars was this week back in pride of place at a 900-year-old church.

The bowl which had been taken from the font at St Mary's Church at Tickhill is back in place after it was found abandoned and coated in mud in a farmer's field.

Its recovery has delighted vicar the Rev Canon Gordon Taylor and members of St Mary's Church, who are pleased to see the porcelain vessel and its cover back in its rightful place.

But the fate of another item taken from a lectern at the same time, a 20-year-old small brass eagle with a six inch wingspan, remains unknown.

Churchgoers were shocked when the tabletop font, normally housed inside the big 15th century stone font at the back of the church, was stolen around the beginning of October.

The theft was reported to South Yorkshire Police who issued an appeal for information, but nothing was heard or seen of it until someone read aloud a report in the church magazine written by Mr Taylor which was illustrated by a picture of the font.