POLICE are appealing for information following an unusual theft in Pembroke Dock.

Some time on March 21, it is believed that a Napoleonic-era cannon was stolen from the site of the former Cleddau Bridge Hotel, Lllanion.

A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman said: Police received a call reporting that an ancient cannon was stolen from outside the Cleddau Bridge Hotel, in Essex Road, Pembroke Dock.

“The report was made at 6.20pm on Thursday, March 21, and it is believed the canon was stolen at some point that day.”

The cannon, one of two dug up from the ground at Hobbs Point and later restored, used to stand outside Llanion Park, the former offices of South Pembrokeshire District Council, now the home of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.

After local government reorganisation in 1996, the cannon passed in to the ownership of Pembrokeshire County Council.

It was moved to the hotel for safekeeping; the town council later asking for its return to Llanion Park when the Park Authority located there.

The siting of the cannon at the former hotel, caused controversy back back in 2004, as the Milford Mercury reported, when it transpired the cannon had been presented, on free loan, to the hotel, with the county council stating it had no intention relocating it to Llanion Park.

The Cleddau Bridge Hotel closed at the beginning of 2018, with 40 staff losing their jobs.

Anyone with information on the cannon theft is asked to contact police at Pembroke Dock station on 101.