Stone mad: Thieves snatch Cromwell and eagle statues

THEY withstood the unwanted attentions of the IRA and well over two centuries of inhospitable weather, but statues of Oliver Cromwell and William of Orange in a Co Cork estate have fallen to a gang of thieves.

Two eagles carved from limestone were also taken by the late night gang at the Milltown Castle near Charleville, Co Cork.

The statues were placed at the entrance to the estate in 1775 by the Bruce family.

Claude Keane, whose family took over the estate in the 1890s, said: “The statues have no material value and are all made from limestone. But they were part of our life as we saw them every day when we came and went and they were like part of the family.”

The statues of Cromwell and William of Orange stood about five feet and the eagles were four feet high.

The two figures stood on niches in the front walls of the gate lodge.

Claude, 82, said: “When I read up on Cromwell it was said he had a wart over his right eye. And sure enough when I checked there was a wart over the right eye of our fellow as well. The statues bothered nobody, although the IRA broke off the nose of Cromwell in 1921 when they hit it with a hammer.”

Mr Keane said two men were seen acting suspiciously at Milltown Castle.

Det Garda Liam Ruttle of Charleville said: “We feel that a lorry with a Hiab-type arm-lift must have been used to take the eagles from their pillars and the two statues. A lorry drove through a four-crossroad junction near Milltown Castle at around 2am and we feel it may have been used and was leaving the area in a hurry.”