A CONGREGATION are in shock after historic stones which have formed part of their Cradley Heath church for more than 114 years were stolen.

About a dozen triangular coping stones are believed to have been snatched from outside Four Ways Baptist Church, in Corngreaves Road, at some point during the weekend.

Church secretary Albert Billingham said the criminal damage has stunned the congregation, who noticed the expensive stones were missing following a service on Sunday morning.

He told the News: “We just couldn’t believe our eyes. It was shocking.

“But it makes you think, how low must a person be to do something like this?

“We don’t normally come round into the public car park where the stones are – we have bollards which we take down on the other side for the congregation to park their cars. So it was just a coincidence that we happened to come round this side of the church and see the mess which had been made.

“I just don’t understand why someone would steal stones from a church of all places. What is the world coming too?”

Halesowen News:

After making the discovery, Mr Billingham reported the incident to the police, but he is not hopeful that the perpetrators will be found.

He said: “The stones form part of a wall which has stood here since 1904 when the church was extended and we’ve never had anything like this happen before.

“The stones survived the First World War and the Second World War but not some idiots who have decided to take them apart.

“We think there are about 12 or 13 stones which have been stolen, and all together they would be worth about £400.

“It must have taken whoever did it some time to remove them as they were held in place by thick concrete.

“We have reported it to the police but unfortunately I don’t think there is much they can do. We don’t have CCTV cameras and we don’t know when exactly it happened. It could have been done anytime between Friday and Sunday morning.”

Mr Billingham and his fellow churchgoers are now appealing to the public for help in retrieving the significant stones.

“We just want to put the word out to see if anyone in the local area might have seen something which could have been linked to this,” he added.

“People might have seen someone there and thought they were making renovations to the stones and thought nothing else of it.

“But if anyone does have any information which could help us get these stones back, then please get in touch.”

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating the theft of coping stones from Four Ways Baptist Church, in Congreaves Road, Cradley Heath.

“They are believed to have been taken sometime between 1pm on July 13 and 10.30am on July 15.

“Anyone with information is asked to call 101; quoting crime reference number 20SW/159432H/18.”