A BRONZE statue of a horse has been stolen from Forde Abbey and Gardens near Chard.
The statue, which has been in the gardens for 23 years, was taken on Tuesday night (September 26).
Alice Kennard, owner of the garden and statue, said the bronze sculpture “is extremely heavy” but was taken “without a tyre mark on the lawn”.
She also said: “A bronze statue of a horse has been stolen in the night from the Abbey gardens.
“The stolen sculpture, called Marcia, is a 1/3-sized maquette of the rearing stallion that is positioned on the roundabout outside the National Stud in Newmarket.
“It was made by my godmother, Marcia Astor, the sculptor. Her signature and the foundry mark are on the statue.
“This millennium statue was a present from my mother Lisa to my father Mark Roper.
“The stolen sculpture played a crucial part in our life and has been in the Abbey gardens for 23 years with the garden evolving around it.
“The sculpture was stolen overnight on Tuesday [September 26] without a tyre mark on the lawn.
“It is an extremely heavy bronze sculpture, but it has been very carefully lifted off without a scratch on the plinth.”
Dorset Police said: "Between 10pm on Tuesday 26 September 2023 and 8am on Wednesday 27 September 2023, a large bronze statue of a rearing horse was stolen from the gardens of the Forde Abbey estate near Chard.
"The horse statue is identifiable through a signature marked ‘Marcia Astor, 2000’.
"It was reported that a large blue Transit-style van was sighted close to the estate and in the village of Thorncombe near the time of the theft."
Police Sergeant Natalie Skinner, of Dorset Rural Crime Team, said: “I am appealing to anyone who witnessed the statue being stolen to please contact us.
“I also wish to identify the owner of the above-mentioned vehicle sighted in the area at the time and speak to them.
“In addition to this, I am reaching out to residents in those areas to please check their home CCTV cameras to see if they have captured anything that may help us identify the vehicle and its owners.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting occurrence number 55230153344.
Alternatively, independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling Freephone 0800 555 111.
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