A 31-YEAR-OLD quilt depicting 16 Gwent castles has vanished after being hung up at a Caldicot monument.

Christabel Gilbert, one of the founders of Gwent Quilters, loaned the eight-foot-square quilt to Caldicot Castle in 2012 with a view to it being hung it in their banquet hall, but it has since disappeared.

The quilt is heavy, made of cotton fabric and has probably been put away for safe-keeping, but nobody no one knows where, said Ms Gilbert.

The quilt – sewn by the original Gwent Quilters in 1983 – has no monetary value but is of sentimental importance, said Ms Gilbert, and the group had been hoping to feature it as the centrepiece of an exhibition at Newport’s Lysaght’s Institute last weekend on June 6 and 7.

“The quilt went off my radar,” said Ms Gilbert, who is also the regional coordinator for the Quilters Guild. “When I checked back recently they didn’t have it. They were very apologetic.

“It would be tragic if it was lost because it has lots of sentimental value. Each person did one castle and it was the first thing we did as a group.”

A spokesman for Monmouthshire council said leisure staff are looking for the quilt.

Gwent Quilters has around 30 members of all ages, meeting on the third Saturday of every month off Malpas Road.For details, call Ms Gilbert on 07977 534042.