Whitehaven church in mission to find owner of stray sheep

St Bridget's Church in Moresby has begun a mission to find the owners of two ewes and four lambs who have been regularly visiting the churchyard in recent weeks.

The sheep have been spotted at various locations in and around Moresby in the past few weeks, including in and out of the grounds of Moresby Hall Hotel, and across land between St Bridget's Church and Lowca village.

The sheep have been spotted around Lowca village and in the grounds of Moresby Hall Hotel (Image: St Bridget's Church)

DEFRA have been contacted about the matter (Image: St Bridget's Church)

St Bridget's Church has now begun a search for the owner of the sheep and local farms have been contacted.

A spokesperson for St Bridget's Church, Moresby, said: "The main issues here are,
the safety of the animals, the safety of road users, [and] damage that they are doing to gardens and the church yard.

"We all would like a happy ending to this story."

There are two ewes and four lambs - the sheep appear to be ear tagged (Image: St Bridget's Church)

The sheep have been eating flowers from around the churchyard, including by graves (Image: St Bridget's Church)

The ewes appear to be ear tagged, but no one has been able to successfully approach the sheep yet, and they have been spotted eating grass and flowers from graves in the churchyard.

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have been contacted by the church who are now looking into the matter.

In a Facebook post, St Bridget's Church encouraged anyone with information about the sheep's owner to get in touch and said "this is quite distressing for a range of reasons let alone the sheep themselves."

St Bridget's Church can be contacted at office.stbridgets@gmail.com.