Ball-related crime is one of our major pet peeves, but this case from the police blotter in Gloucestershire has us really scratching our head. The Bathurst Estate is a historic mansion nestled in Cirencester Park, purchased in 1635 by Sir Benjamin Bathurst as a gift to his son. His family has stewarded it through the generations, purchasing adjacent property to make a beautiful space for locals to visit.

Unfortunately, some scoundrels took advantage of the hospitality to make off with twenty cannon balls a week ago. The heavy metal orbs were arranged beneath the estate’s twin decorative cannons, but at six inches in diameter it would have taken quite the effort to make off with them all.

Lady Bathurst took to social media to report the theft, writing “A couple of points: I know there are a lot more important things going on right now, and a bunch of old canon balls possibly won’t rate very highly in anyone’s present list of priorities, but the fact is these people entered our garden, with unkindness and evil in their hearts - and I find that deeply distressing, violating, and unsettling.

“It’s the sort of thing that makes us want to lock the gates to the entire estate and never see anyone ever again.

“It’s extremely personal when something like this happens, and I am naturally very upset.”

Hopefully the historic balls will make their way back to the Bathurst estate tout suite.

Read more at the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard.