AN HISTORIC Victorian lantern which once hung in the Cornhill area of Wellington has been miraculously found.

The lantern used to be at the top of Cornhill, but when the area was hit by a fire in 2008 it fell into disrepair and the lantern was removed.

Cllr Keith Wheatley, of Wellington Town Council, had taken it upon himself - in true Indiana Jones style - to find this piece of local history.

And the council’s town clerk Dave Farrow told the WWN: “Much to the surprise of everyone it has been tracked down in some storage facility somewhere.”

Mr Farrow likened it to the Holy Grail of Wellington and said he had visions of the end of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie – starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones – where the Ark was crated up and stored in a large warehouse among countless other crates.

“We expect the lantern to be delivered back to us sometime soon,” he added. “Once we have it we can see what state it’s in, but the plan is to get it put up again.”

Mr Farrow, speaking at the council’s town centre committee, told councillors that the lantern had been found in storage at an electrical contractor who had been working for Somerset County Council.