THERE’S grave news from the Cotswolds this week, as auctioneers prepare to sell the 200 year old tomb of a 23-year-old woman.

The lid of tomb is carved with the effigy of the young woman, while a Latin inscription to the base reads Cojugam Optima Amantissima Et Delectissima, and tells us that the woman died on August 11 1798, aged just 23.

But who was this tragic young woman?

The answer is no-one… although she may have become a vampire.

The tomb is, in fact, fashioned from wood and fibre glass, and far from being 200 years old is no more than 50.

It was built as a prop for Hammer Horror, some time during the studio’s heyday in the 1960s and 1970s.

The prop was bought by its current owner at an auction of movie memorabilia around 25 years ago.

There’s no record of which film, or films, the prop appeared in, but one thing we can be sure of – the Latin inscription is gibberish.

The tomb will go under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on Friday, June 17.

A bid of £300 to £500 should secure the lot.

From tombs to sarcophaguses – and this time 100 per cent the genuine article – a Victorian sarcophagus wine cooler in the Dutch style should attract bids of £100 to £150.

The rosewood wine cooler dates from around 1830 to 1850.

Originally it would have been packed with ice to keep wine cold.

For something authentic from which to sup the wine, a late 17th or early 18th century pewter chalice is offered as part of a larger collection of metalwares.

The lot also includes a pair of Victorian steel meat skewers, dated 1886, an some Victorian police handcuffs, with key and in a leather case.

Together, the antiques should command an estimate of £100 to £150.

Elsewhere in the metalwares section, a large collection of copper and brass – which is expected to achieve between £100 and £150 – includes a doctor’s bleeding bowl from 1766, and a pewter bourdaloue, which looks for all the world like a gravy boat.

The Bourdaloue is named after the French Jesuit preacher Louis Bourdaloue (1632 to 1704) who was renowned for his important contributions to philosophy and moral theology, but also, sadly, for the length of his sermons.

Desperate female churchgoers sought a method by which a receptacle could be discreetly manoeuvred under the skirts, for the purposes of bladder relief.

And thus, Louis Bourdaloue is today best remembered not for his sermons, but for the chamber pot he inspired.

For a full auction catalogue, log on to mooreallen.co.uk