TWO life-size busts of William of Orange and Oliver Cromwell, which were stolen eight years ago, have been found in Co Clare.
A member of the public spotted the statues last week close to a derelict outhouse on land near Cratloe and contacted gardaí.
The limestone figures, along with two eagles mounted on 10ft high pillars, were taken on July 18, 2011 from Milltown Castle in Charleville, Co Cork.
All four were recovered by gardaí on Friday.
A local Garda, who remembered the original incident, made the connection between the find and the theft.
A Garda spokesperson said: "The theft generated a lot of media interest at the time and an extensive Garda investigation was carried out but the property was never found."
William of Orange, also known as King Billy, defeated King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, while Oliver Cromwell led a brutal military campaign in Ireland in the mid-1600s.
The statues' owners said in media interviews at the time of the theft that IRA members broke off the nose of the Cromwell statue by hitting it with a hammer in 1921 during the War of Independence.
Milltown Castle was built in about 1780 following an earlier settlement by the Fitzgibbon branch of the Fitzgerald family in the late sixteenth century, according to Irish architectural heritage records.
The house was built by George Bruce, a member of the influential Charleville banking family.
Gardaí have appealed for anyone with information about the theft to contact them.
