An elderly woman who left her home overnight for the first time in 25 years had a priceless wooden chalice stolen while she was in hospital.

The artefact, said to be the ‘Holy Grail’, had been passed to Fiona Mirylees, 69, as an heirloom and had been in her family for generations.

Intruders broke into her property in the rural village of Weston-under-Penyard, Herefordshire, and took the Nanteos Cup – believed to have been carried to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea after the crucifixion of Christ.



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Stolen: The Nanteos Cup - otherwise known as the 'Holy Grail' - was taken from the home of an elderly woman. Raiders broke into the house after she was admitted to hospital

The burglary, which happened sometime between July 7 when she was taken into hospital and July 14, has since sparked a major police investigation.

Residents in the idyllic hamlet said the pensioner had spent years looking after the chalice and rarely left the house as a result.



One neighbour said: ‘I have known about the grail being in the village for at least the 25 years I have been here.

‘It was a family heirloom, it had been in the family for generations and took great pride in protecting it.



‘If it is real it raises more questions than it answers. It’s very fascinating. Maybe it proves Jesus existed if it’s the one.



‘But she never showed it to me personally.’



Quest: Harrison Ford searched for the grail in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade



Another villager, who wished to remain anonymous, added: ‘She never leaves the house really, she is very reclusive and has spent years protecting that artefact.



‘She knew it was very valuable so wouldn’t risk leaving the house for a long period of time.



‘I believe it was first time she had left the house for an entire night when she was taken to hospital last week.



‘It’s such a shame, she will be devastated and isn’t in the best of health anyway.



‘Everybody is sort of suspecting each other because everyone in the village knew it was there but I’m not sure how people beyond that did.’



One of her other neighbours, who also did not want to be named, said: ‘It was passed down to her from her father. She used to keep dogs, but she’s been ill recently.



‘Everyone in the village knows about it, and talks about the powers it might have, but Fiona doesn’t mention it too often.



‘She lives on her own with her dogs and has done for about 20 years.’



Linda Dunn, church warden at Fiona’s church, St Lawrence’s Church, said: ‘She used to come to the church a lot but hasn’t been recently because she’s been in hospital.



‘Who knows if it’s the real Holy Grail? The vicar went over to see it so she certainly has a wooden goblet that she thinks is the grail.



‘You just never know and it is fun for the village if we think it might be.’



She added: ‘She used to breed Pekingese dogs. She took them to Crufts and they competed there years back.



‘I’ve not seen her in a while. She’s lived here well over 20 years but never had a family.



‘She was always very quiet,’ said the warden.



Church rector for the last six years, Reverend Neil Patterson, said: ‘I have held the wooden chalice myself.



‘It's about the size of my hand. It's not a whole chalice, but it will still hold water.



‘There are stories of it healing people back in the 1950s and 60s.’



He added: ‘Fiona is a regular churchgoer here and she's a nice lady.



‘She brought the grail back from Wales where it had been kept on her family's estate near Aberystwyth.



‘That's where there were stories of it healing people who drank the water from it.’



Reverend Patterson added: ‘Maybe it's not old enough to be the actual Holy Grail, but there are these tales of it healing people and people coming to find the chalice so it could make them better.



‘She will be devastated that it has been stolen.’

Probe: Police were called to a house in the rural village of Weston-under-Penyard in Herefordshire after the woman reported that the wooden artefact had been stolen

The search for the artefact was the plot for the 1989 blockbuster, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, starring Harrison Ford.



But now West Mercia Police officers have been tasked with finding the wooden bowl themselves.



A spokesman for the force said: 'West Mercia Police are investigating a burglary at a home in Under Penyard.



'The home was broken into between 9.30am on Monday 7 July and 9.30am on Monday 14 July.



'A wooden cup/challis, known as the Nanteos Cup, has been reported as stolen from the home. It is dark wood cup and was kept in a blue velvet bag.



Rumour has it Joseph of Arimathea, a revered Catholic figure later founded a religious settlement at Glastonbury and the 'grail' then came into the safekeeping of monks.



Over the centuries the mysterious wooden bowl was said to have magical healing powers.



It was held for years at Nantoes Mansion near Aberystwyth in Wales until the last occupants of the estate, the Powell family, left in the 1950s.



In later years it came into the ownership of the Steadman family, who kept it in a bank vault in Wales.



It was reported that in 2010 Mrs Mirylees had sent water that had been in the cup to people with life-threatening illnesses.



The Holy Grail has been an issue of debate among historians and theologians - with some religious figures claiming the grail is actually the Holy Chalice, used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper.



The cup was featured on Channel 5 documentary The Search for the Holy Grail: The True Story, in which it was examined by the Commissioner for Monuments in Wales.



He concluded it was made from Wych Elm wood, typical of a medieval bowl and was actually at least 500-years-old, making it at least 1,400 years after the crucifixion.



But the cup has a long held reputation for healing, with people drinking from it in the hope of curing their illnesses.



The quest for the Holy Grail has taken many forms in literature and films since French poet Chrétien de Troyes referred to it in the late 12th Century.



It is sometimes portrayed as a majestic golden or silver cup, but is also considered by some to be a simple wooden bowl - famously depicted in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.



It is generally considered to be the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and the one used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch his blood as he hung on the cross.



In medieval romance, the grail was said to have been brought to Glastonbury in Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and his followers.



In Joseph d'Arimathe by Robert de Baron, the Christian leader is imprisoned. However, the grail sustains him during his captivity.



When he is released, he and a group of followers take the grail, containing the blood and sweat of Christ, to Britain.



After he founded a religious settlement in Glastonbury, the grail is said to have been taken into possession by monks.



During Henry VII's suppression of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541, the monks fled to Strata Florida Abbey just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales, and took the cup with them. When the abbey closed down, it was handed to the Stedman family who owned the land.



The search for the vessel was the principal quest of the knights of King Arthur - including Sir Lancelot and his son Sir Galahad.



According to Arthurian literature, Arthur proclaimed that Galahad was the greatest knight after removing the sword from the stone.



He was then invited to become a Knight of the Round Table and it was then - after seeing a vision of the Grail at Arthur's court - that their quest for the chalice began.



At the end of the Middle Ages (around the 15th century) the Grail disappears. However, references to it are revived in the 19th century when medieval history and legend interested writers including Alfred Tennyson.



Composer Richard Wagner also referred to the chalice in his opera Parsifal. He stayed at Nanteos and is said to have been inspired by its history. His work gave the grail new meaning, directly relating it with female fertility.



The Nanteos Cup is said to have a host of powers. People drink water from the cup in the hope it will cure their ailments. Its mythical abilities have persisted despite a 2004 Channel 5 documentary, where experts said it dated to the 14th Century, nearly 1,500 years after the crucifixion.

