Nanteos Cup (Holy Grail) Stolen

[Roger]

Ancient relic, Nanteos Cup, once thought to be the legendary Holy Grail, stolen in burglary at Weston under Penyard, near Ross

 

AN ancient relic that was once thought to be the Holy Grail has been stolen from a house in Herefordshire.

In the last few minutes, West Mercia Police has issued a statement saying that a wooden chalice, known as the Nanteos Cup, has been stolen in a burglary at Weston under Penyard, near Ross.

The property was broken into between 9.30amon Monday, July 7, and 9.30am yesterday (Monday, July 14). The police name the Nanteos Cup as reported stolen, describing it as a dark wood cup kept in a blue velvet bag.

Worcester News

Wikipedia

[Ubique]

From Wales on line.....

A major police hunt is underway after burglars raided a home and stole a priceless Welsh relic - said to be the mythical 'Holy Grail'.

 

The Nanteos Cup – an ancient wooden chalice , which is named after the mansion where it was once kept near Aberystwyth – was rumoured to have been carried over to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea, years after the crucifixion of Christ.

 

The revered Catholic figure later founded a religious settlement at Glastonbury and legend has it that the 'grail' then came into the safekeeping of monks.

 

The Cup came to Nanteos Mansion, near Aberystwyth, with seven monks from Strata Florida, Ceredigion, on the dissolution of the Abbey in the reign of Henry VIII. The Powell family was left in possession of the sacred vessel after the last of the seven monks died.

 

Over the centuries the mysterious wooden bowl was said to have magical healing powers and, in later years, it came into the ownership of the Steadman family, who kept it in a bank vault in Wales.

 

But it is understood the cup has now been stolen by burglars after being temporarily loaned to a seriously ill woman connected to the Steadman family at a property in Ross-on-Wye .

 

Raiders struck after she had been admitted to hospital. They stole the dark wood cup, which had been kept in a blue velvet bag - sparking a major police investigation by West Mercia Police.

 

It is understood burglars struck at the property in Weston under Penyard, between last Monday and yesterday.

 

The cup was previously included in a Channel Five documentary called Search for the Holy Grail. In the programme, experts claimed it was actually made at least 1,400 years after the crucifixion.

 

The Welsh relic first gained notoriety when it was put on display in 1870 at Lampeter University by the owner of Nanteos House. After that, although it was kept behind glass at the stately home, the cup was still regularly filled with water for distributing to the homes of the ill and infirm.

[bobby47]

My God! This'll have them scratching their heads. Course, before they even set out to track these culprits down it'll have to be given an operational name. You'd be a fool to even think of tracking this lot down without an operational name. First thing I'd do if I were in charge of the job would be to get an operational name. I'd insist on it. I'd say, 'we ain't moving until we've been given a macho, blood curdling, cliche of an operational name that'll grab the readers attention. Operation 'Certain Detection' would do the trick.'

If I was one of the thieves, and lets face it they are thieves, if I heard the operational name was 'Certain Detection', I'd say to the lads, 'lads, its pointless hiding out in this barn. They're onto us. There sure to find us because the operational name says they will'. I'd be giving myself up if I could manage to navigate the agony of negotiating my way through the Call Centre at their Headquarters.

Course the next response from the Police will be, 'we've satisfied ourselves that this is the work of thieves. There's no doubt about it and until we hear otherwise we're going to be looking for thieves'.

And worse, they'll say, 'we've had a look at the Modus Operandi and our intelligence systems and we've been left with no other conclusion than to firmly believe that these thieves were using our vast network of roads to facilitate their criminal activities'.

Oh they'll catch them. It's only a matter of time. Mind, if they've run off and hid in some far off Hebridean hedge determined to lay low for ten months it might take while to dig them out.

Finally I'd urge everyone to be on guard if a thief comes up your path carrying a blue velvet bag that contained a wooden relic and begs you to buy it. Tell them, 'be gone. The police are behind you. About twelve months to be exact. Clear off'.

[Roger]

I've removed your vote down Bobby ;-) ... I shared the story to generate debate by the way ... This is interesting to me .... #stolenartefact 

[gdj]

 

 

it'll have to be given an operational name

 

"Operation Quest for the Holy Grail"

 

 

Now I watch enough TV detective dramas to be able to solve most crimes from my armchair and I have two theories.

 

1.  Someone knew that it was in the old lady's house and that she wasn't there - otherwise why steal a bit of wood in a bag, or

2. This fits a well known pattern of one or more gangs from Gloucester stealing from rural houses close to the main roads between Herefordshire (Here you Can) and Gloucester (a friend was a victim last year whilst at work and this is what the police told her) and driving quickly back to Gloucester.  If this happened the bowl is likely to be dumped by the roadside somewhere because a handwritten sign at a car boot sale, or an ebay item offering the Holy Grail with guaranteed miracles would attract attention.  A 'clever' aspect to this is it crosses the border between two police forces so an added bit of bureacracy is there to get in the way of detection.

 

And behind the story is a seriously ill lady whose house has been burgled - dreadful for her.

[dippyhippy]

Was this the only item stolen?

 

What I'm asking I suppose is, do the thieves actually know what they've got??

 

If they don't......they may sling it, but I think it was stolen to order, and whoever wants it that badly, has probably paid a handsome price for this.

 

My operational name suggestion would be,

 

"Operation - Cup Half Empty."

 

Of course, should the police track down the culprits, this should immediately be changed to,

 

"Operation - Cup Half Full."

[Bambi]

Is it just a coincidence that the 'Monty Python' team are back together?

Perhaps the Constables should be looking for a group of horseless Knights 'who say "Nic"'!!

[bobby47]

I've heard some worrying reports from my source within the local Constabulary. Stupidly, during a briefing, the brains behind this job was referred to as The Mastermind. Understandable the lads heads went down straight away knowing that they were up against a criminal mastermind who by definition was considerably cleverer than them. It's lose talk like this that'll destroy the lads confidence before they even start looking for the culprits. If only they'd said, 'this criminal is as dull and thick as us', then it would have given them a bit of a boost thinking, ' there's a small chance we could catch him if he's stayed at the scene and hid in the loft' As it is they're taking the view that its pointless even bothering to go out because this criminal is ever so much cleverer than them.

Mind, happily its been leaked to me that they've definitely got it in mind that this is the work of a criminal and so, cognisant that whoever did this was a criminal, the list of suspects has shot down from seventy million to twenty million which, though huge in numbers is a lot easier to address than the great stack of names they were muttering over yesterday.

They've produced a criminal profile of the Mastermind who is described as either male or female, short or tall in build, has a keen interest in Religous artefacts and may be someone with a clubbed foot.

Apparently they found a strange mark at the scene which suggests the criminal either had a clubbed foot, which would explain the strange mark they found or the mark had nothing to do with the Mastermind and was left there by a passing rodent who'd been foraging for food before the balloon went up.

Course, the interviewing process will break the hardest of characters. Being asked, 'Did you do it' usually trips them up and brings about their downfall and the recovery of stolen property. I know how I'd react if they got me in the back of the van and put that question to me. I'd say, 'the games up. I knew you'd catch up with me sooner or later. Yes I did it and whatsmore I'd do it again if I truly believed I wasn't up against such formidable opposition as you lads'.

I mean, who knows whether or not we'll get the cup back. If as they did in medieval times, folk start taking bites out of it and eating the wood, it could all be gone by next Tuesday and that blue velvet bag will be empty.

[Roger]

Pub raided.....in search of the Holy Grail!

Wednesday, 06 August 2014

 

 

 

Liam Ryder

LANDLADY Di Franklin got a shock when she turned up for work at The Crown Inn, Lea, on Sunday to be confronted by 12 burly police officers at the door – searching for the Holy Grail! West Mercia police officers had received a tip-off that the stolen Nanteos Cup had been seen in the pub, having recently been taken from a home in Weston-under-Penyard. Legend claims that the Nanteos Cup is the goblet that Jesus drank out of during the Last Supper. It belongs to Lady Fiona Mirylees, but was stolen from her home last month. Di explained: “The police said that they’d received information that the Nanteos Cup had been seen in the pub and was still here, so they executed a search warrant to try and find it. “If it had come here it would have gone in the fire! It’s not even a whole thing now, it’s about a third of an old cup."

For the full story read The Forester

 

Email: carmelogarcia@theforester.co.uk

All content © of The Forester unless stated otherwise.

 

 

 

The Forester

[stupidfrustration]

Great bit of PR for the pub that!

[Ubique]

Just wondering ( but what do I know ? ) where or what the evidence was to convince a JP to sign a Search Warrant - if a Search Warrant needs approval from a JP ? Or is a Search Warrant easy to get these days - I am sure that somebody close to the Constabulary will enlighten me - and if they do I will say thank you in advance .

[Roger]

Just wondering ( but what do I know ? ) where or what the evidence was to convince a JP to sign a Search Warrant - if a Search Warrant needs approval from a JP ? Or is a Search Warrant easy to get these days - I am sure that somebody close to the Constabulary will enlighten me - and if they do I will say thank you in advance .

 

Obviously the story has got more holes than a Swiss cheese ... The photo has some fella brandishing a modern (broken) wooden bowl that has obviously been dreamed up to accompany the story ... You can only presume that reliable/believable intelligence arrived that convinced someone to authorise the warrant to search for the ancient bowl ... I doubt some diner has gone to the pub and had some crisps out of that busted bowl and thought 'this is the missing Holy Grail' ... 

 

Strange story update! 

[Ubique]

BBC Hereford and Worcester published this Warrant on their webpage

[bobby47]

Bloody Hell! This result makes my posts look interestingly accurate and informative. My God, the Mastermind behind this little job will be heartened to know that the Police are behind him. About two years and a thousand miles by the looks of things. Good grief! To think that all it takes is a phone call to CrimeStoppers and they'll do all of this to you.

Course, tomorrow the lads will regroup, they'll put aside this latest disappointment and move on to some other area of business that'll see them in confrontation with an easier target. A heterosexual white English Christian who, because he's starving stupidly decided to take a loaf of bread out of Morrisons Skip without permission. A detected box ticking Theft, a Caution or Warning, a DNA sample and a pile if paper you'd wish you'd never generated should get the lads fired up as they continue their pursuit of the Mastermind.

The Police hierarchy will soon be out to face the camera and as usual, with a frowning brow and a curled lip, he or she will trot out the usual tripe that is, ' if you commit crime, we will find you and we will catch you'. They say it all the time nowadays. What they don't tell you is which date or year this is going to happen. They keep that to themselves. Mind, I suppose if they said, 'we will find you and we will catch you on the day after Pan Cake day in 2017 you'd be alerting the Mastermind to the day he'd get found and caught.

I suppose on that day he'd simply find a really good hiding place like a thicket of Hawthorne bushes and stay there until the day after Pancake Day had passed and then emerge with the old relic and shout, 'hoorah! I'm the Mastermind and I'm far to clever to be found and caught.'

[Roger]

Police raid pub in search for Holy Grail

 

A village pub was raided by police hunting for an ancient Holy Grail relic - and discovered it was just a salad bowl.

The team of officers accused pub workers of hiding the stolen Nanteos Cup which has been kept in Wales for centuries.

ITV News

[bobby47]

This tale of woe is really worthy of more discussion. Imagine the picture after they'd taken the telephone call. 'Lads, banish our fears that we are up against a Mastermind. The Holy grail was taken from Weston-under-Penyard and the relic is now eight hundred yards away secreted in a public house in Lea'. 'Hoorah', the troops would shout, 'the thief was a complete idiot which puts us at a slight advantage'.

Not once did the Police consider treating this scenario with caution and a little common sense. 'Buggar knocking at the door, playing the whole thing down and getting written authority from the publican to have a rummage round'. No! Not for the lads who'd been liberated from their fears they were up against a criminal Mastermind. 'Lads, glory beckons. We'll take quick advantage of this fool who's hidden the Grail on top of the bar at the Crown Inn, we'll swear out a warrant and dozens of us will tip up and recover this ancient relic.'

I mean for Gods sake didn't they glance at the map and realize that Lea is the next door neighbour to Weston and it'd be highly unlikely that the burglar, even a thick burglar, was likely to have staggered into the Crown Inn crying, 'hoorah I've got it. Lets pop it up on the bar for all to see'.

It's Operational name? I'd have thought 'Bell Bloody End' would have been appropriate. It's truly depressing to think that despite their vast intelligence systems, despite all their equipment, their training and their knowledge of criminal activity, they'd simply do all this because of an anonymous call to Crimestoppers.

[Bambi]

Reading Bobby's post made me think.

'Police Intelligence'.

Anybody know any other oxymorons?

[Ubique]

From BBC HEREFORD AND WORCESTER

 

The owners of a stolen Holy Grail relic are offering a reward for its return after the cup was stolen last year.

The Nanteos Cup was taken from a home in Weston under Penyard, near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire in July 2014.

West Mercia Police described the dark wood cup as a "medieval mazer bowl" and "a wooden cup/chalice", and that it was kept in a blue velvet bag.

The owners are offering £1,000 and West Mercia Police are offering an additional £1,000 for its safe return.

Police are also hoping for information leading to the arrest and subsequent conviction of those who stole it.

The Nanteos Cup, a wooden chalice named after the mansion in Aberystwyth where it was once kept, is claimed to be the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper and then brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea.

It is then believed to have been taken to Nanteos Mansion by seven monks from Strata Florida, Ceredigion, during the reign of Henry Vlll.

Owner Margaret Powell kept the chalice locked in a cupboard in a library.

After many years it left Nanteos Mansion and came into the ownership of the Steadman family in Ross-on-Wye.

[Clarkester]

£2000 reward for what is essentially an old wooden bowl?

I'm getting my chisels out later, I'll make one like the one at The Crown.  The one they have has as much claim to be the holy grail as this Nanteos Cup does.

Personally I'm not sure how it can be seriously claimed that Jesus drank from it at the last supper when it only dates back to the late middle ages...

[Roger]

Is this £1000 from WMP from them or from Crimestoppers? I thought WMP was struggling financially so why is the broken wooden bowl getting the reward? 

[Ubique]

FOUND. Copied from BBC WALES

 

A religious relic known as the "Holy Grail" will be reunited with its owners after it was stolen during a burglary.

The Nanteos Cup, a wooden chalice named after the mansion in Aberystwyth, was stolen from a house in Weston Under Penyard near Ross-On-Wye in July 2014.

It had been loaned to a seriously ill woman because of its claimed healing properties but burglars struck while the woman was in hospital.

It was found following an appeal this month on BBC One's Crimewatch Roadshow.

The cup is claimed to have been brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea after the death of Christ and then taken to Nanteos Mansion by seven monks from Strata Florida,

[Roger]

Today, Detective Sergeant Andy Bennet of West Mercia Police told the Roadshow: "As a result of an appeal on the show two weeks ago we had an anonymous phone call and met with a male who handed over the cup to us.

 

"We are happy that that male didn't steal the cup."

 

 

Wales Online

 

There is a £2000 reward on offer, for the return of The Cup, which appears reliant on a conviction being obtained before it's paid out.