An urgent search is underway for a symbol from a 250-year-old bridge, which has been stolen.
The chairman of Belper North Mill Trust in Derbyshire, Ian Hill, has launched the appeal after the feature from the historic bridge went missing.
The "irreplaceable" lion's head fountain tap went missing from the North Mill Bridge, which was built in the 1790s.
Hill has urged whoever took the feature to return it to its rightful place.
Belper North Mill Trust |
An urgent search has been launched for the historic lion's head fountain tap
People in the town first discovered it went missing on August 4, with the trust launching a plea for anyone with information.
Hill explained: "It's small, but it's significant and it's unique. It's irreplaceable and so important to the bridge, as well as the local community.
"It's not worth much at all, the scrap value is next to nothing, and if somebody bought it without it being in situ, it really has no value at all.
"At a time when we are trying to move things on and redevelop the site, and also still present Belper as a place with a rich heritage to attract people to the town, it's just such a big blow to us.
"We want it back; we cannot fathom why someone would do it in the first place, but we don't really care as long as it is returned."
The tap was installed beneath the bridge on Ashbourne Road, which was initially constructed to provide drinking water for mill workers.
Hill said: "The mill workers could get a drink of water whenever they needed it, and people who had travelled a fair distance along Ashbourne Road, or were about to travel a fair distance, could use it ahead of the journey.
"But aside from its past use, it is also a symbolic feature in the town."
The Belper North Mill Trust put out an urgent appeal
Hill and the trust said the feature can be returned to the North Mill Trust Office, Archway House in Belper.
In other historical news, archaeologists have uncovered remains dating back to the Bronze Age in a cave in the Yorkshire Dales.
Evidence found by the Historic Environment Team of Yorkshire Dales National Park, as well as from the University of Central Lancashire has hinted towards its use as a human burial site during the Neolithic period.
The discoveries have shed light on how those living and farming in the Dales at the time used the caves.