Bricks from walls that have been in place for a century and a half have been stolen from a village near Alresford.

The masonry was taken from outside Beauworth Village Hall, St James Church, and two private houses in the village.

A total of 300 coping stones are missing, amounting to a value of £900 and the village hall and church authorities are now looking into whether their insurance will cover the theft.

Honorary secretary of the village hall, Peter Norris-Hill, of nearby Church Terrace, said: "Everyone is very upset about it.

"It's a despicable thing that someone can come along in the middle of the night and take the bricks away and profit from them. Nothing like this has happened in the village before."

P.C Jane Brooks, based at Alresford, is dealing with the case. She said: "This sort of thing does happen in rural areas periodically.

"Generally, when someone is doing a building job somewhere, these kind of bricks are quite suitable and they have a value.

"We think whoever took the bricks may have come to the village during the day to loosen them and then come back in the night with a vehicle. However, in this case, we have no witnesses. We have done a leaflet drop to see if the information we have can jog memories."

"We'd like to hear from anyone who is having some work done which may incorporate the use of coping stones. If they can't trace the source of the stones, we'd like to know."

* Anyone who can help is asked to call P.C Brooks on 0845 045 45 45 ext 5124.