It's as synonymous with Maidstone as Shorn the Sheep and the King Street multi-storey, but one of our greatest relics seems to have slipped into the annals of war history.

The Kent Messenger has received several phone calls from drivers concerned about the disappearance of the Maidstone cannon, which has sat perched at the top of the lower High Street for years.

At first some people assumed the giant brass battle piece had been stolen for its scrap value, but on closer investigation we have discovered that in fact it has just been sent for a bit of a brush up.

One troubled driver, Antony Gledhill, was driving through the town and was horrified at the vanishing war relic, which was given to the town in the 1850s after the Crimean War.

"It's a huge part of the town and people are going to wonder what's happened to it," he said.

"It has gone for repainting and repairs to some of the cracks, which will cost about £8,000," said Maidstone council spokeswoman Karen Jeal.

"People shouldn't panic if they have noticed its disappearance as it will be back in eight weeks."

One particular KM reporter is feeling rather red-faced after learning of the cannon's fate. She walked up the High Street recently and swore something was amiss, but didn't notice the tonnes of missing metal.