A FORTUNE in gold that disappeared from Hereford Cathedral during the Civil War could be buried in Putson in Hereford.

The Hereford Times reported in 1963, when the striking Putson Manor, near the river Wye, was put up for sale, that the new owners could also find themselves buying a fortune in lost gold and church plate.

The items, according to historical accounts, had been gathered up during the Civil War in 1645, while Hereford was being besieged by the Scots.

Thinking they were going to be overcome, the people of Hereford blew up one of the arches of the Wye bridge, while the Bishop ordered that the Cathedral's gold should be put in a safe place.

Some was buried beneath the aisle, while the rest was taken by boat after dark to Putson Manor, then Church property, and hidden somewhere in the house.

But the men who buried the treasure were killed in the siege, with the secret of its hiding place dying with them, and despite various searches, it was never found.

Dispute over the ownership of the missing plate first came up in the 1920s, after the manor had passed out of Church ownership, and when then owners Mr and Mrs Adamson began an extensive restoration.

It was reported they received two letters from the Dean and the Abbot claiming ownership of the plate.

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Another former owner, Mr K. R. Lee, wrote in 1950 that he had suspicions there were cellars and vaults beneath the main part of the house which had been sealed for many years.

A nearby neighbour, Miss M. P. Hill of Acacia House, also in Putson, had a different theory as to why the gold had never been found, believing it could instead be hidden at her home.

"My father, who bought the house in 1937, always understood there was every chance of the treasure being under the house, but we have never bothered to look for it," she said.