BRITISH police thought they’d finally tracked down the long-lost Holy Grail. Instead, what they found was just a salad bowl.

The Crown Inn in Lea, Herefordshire, was raided by a team of 12 police.

What was their quest?

To seek the Holy Grail.

The BBC reports they had been topped-off that a missing local relic, the Nanteos Cup. This old wooden cup is regarded by many to be a sacred object, nothing less than the Holy Grail — the vessel Jesus drank from at the last supper.

It reputedly heals those who drink water from it.

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But the police search came up trumps.

“If somebody had stolen something as priceless as the Holy Grail I don’t think it would be on show in my pub,” the owner of the 15th Century tavern said.

“I have been shown a picture of the missing cup — if it had been here we would have thrown it on the fire because it is not whole any more.

“The only thing here that looks like it is one of our salad bowls.”

58-year-old Di Franklin did not report feeling oppressed or experiencing any of the violence inherent in the system …

And as for the West Mercia Police force’s reputation? It’s just a flesh wound.

The relic had been loaned to a seriously ill woman because of its purported healing.

It didn’t work.

While she was in hospital for treatment, thieves broke into her home on July 15 and swiped the centuries-old cup.

This particular Holy Grail is said to have been brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathaea. It eventually found its way to Aberystwyth, Wales, in the hands of seven monks from Glastonbury during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Originally about 12cm in diameter, the cup has been worn down by age and those seeking to claim their own piece of religious history. It’s now held together by wire and protected by a blue velvet bag.

Once the monks died, the owners of the Nanteos Mansion where they had been staying — the Powell family — took possession of the holy object. It eventually passed on to the Steadman family of Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

The cup was kept in a bank vault in Wales by its current owner, Fiona Mirylees, until being taken out for its curative properties.

A recent documentary, The Search for the Holy Grail: The True Story, determined the cup was the size and shape of a medieval mazer bowl and that it was made out of Wych Elm, not olive wood. It was dated to the 14th Century.