THE resting place of one of Tavistock's most important historic artefacts is hanging in the balance, following a dispute between museum trustees and the town's local history society.

Ordulf's sarcophagus is a granite trough which was excavated in the 18th century, possibly on the site of Tavistock Abbey's chapter house.

It contained the bones of two people, one a tall man, believed by many to be the remains of Ordulf, founder of the abbey, and his wife, Aelfwyun.

The sarcophagus was placed under the archway in Betsy Grimbal's Tower, the ruined abbey's gatehouse, in around 1820. It, and other artefacts from the old abbey, remained there until July 2010, when urgent work needed to be carried out in the tower.

At this point the sarcophagus was taken to Tavistock Museum, where it has been stored in the rear courtyard under canvas.

Now, the town council is proposing to take the sarcophagus back to the tower in the early hours of next Monday — to the dismay of some of the museum's trustees.

Rod Martin, of the museum, said: 'The logic of returning the sarcophagus to the tower defies me.

'Betsy Grimbal's ruined tower is an important Medieval building and once the west gateway into the town. Sadly, it is in a poor state of repair, and very damp, as anyone can see.'

Mr Martin said the museum had sought specialist advice from

the conservation development officer at RAMM (Royal Albert Memorial Museum), Exeter who inspected both the sarcophagus as well as Betsy Grimbal's Tower.

Mr Martin said: 'She confirmed that the sarcophagus, which is made of granite moorstone, is now in a poor state of health, very brittle, and for conservation needs "warm and dry conditions".

'She also noted that Betsy Grimbal's tower is extremely damp with water running down the walls and dripping from the ceiling in wet weather, and green algae everywhere, so hardly suitable conditions for an important town artefact.'

Mr Martin said the museum, which had just had the second phase of its extension completed, was seeking grants to convert its courtyard and former washhouse into a permanent home for the sarcophagus, and hopefully would be able to offer a home to some of the other abbey remains as well.

They would be put on public view, so that the sarcophagus could be seen by the 4,000-plus visitors to the museum, and the story told of its links to Ordulph, the founder of Tavistock.

However, the town's history society is adamant the sarcophagus should be returned to the tower.

The society's Alex Mettler said: 'I have taken many parties of visitors and residents around places like Betsy Grimbal's Tower and the removal of the sarcophagus over two years ago has not allowed such parties, including parties of schoolchildren, to enjoy the story of this piece of Tavistock's history.

'It is not in the public interest to remove the sarcophagus from a place where it has had open public access for some 140 years-plus, to a place which will never be open to public viewing 24/7 for all daylight hours.

'The proposal that the object is threatened by humidity and temperature are the acts of desperation — I see little evidence of other granite artefacts and structures disappearing because of like threats.'

Tavistock town clerk Carl Hearn said the council, following detailed discussions with English Heritage and other relevant bodies, had agreed a range of measures to be undertaken at the tower.

They included some covering to prevent rain ingress, an iron gate at the front of the tower and lighting, to create a more suitable environment for the sarcophagus, and other abbey remains housed at Betsy Grimbals.

He added:?'In the longer term, clearly there are discussions to be had with English Heritage, the history society and the museum about the best way of housing such an important piece of our town's heritage.'