SOME £2,500 worth of original coping stone that has dressed the wall of a Forest church since 1817 has been stolen.

Churchwarden of the Holy Trinity Drybrook Jane White says 10 metres of sandstone was taken from the wall that runs adjacent to the main road, near the bus stop at Harrow Hill, in the early hours of last Monday morning.

She said: “Both James Gilding (fellow churchwarden) and I are putting CCTV in place to hopefully act as a deterrent. I’d say it would have taken two men to lift and load them onto a lorry as they are extremely heavy.

“It is a real blow to us especially as a place of worship that heavily relies on donations and grants to stay open. To replace the stone and pay labourers it will cost the church at least £3,000 – all money that comes from our fundraising pot. It costs the church £80,000 alone each year just to keep it open.”

Anybody with any information is advised to call the police on 101 quoting incident number 165 of August 15.