A 104-year-old painting of a Rochester Cathedral Dean has sold for £385 - on eBay.

Churchgoers at St Matthew's Church, Northampton, used the auction site to sell off a 1908 watercolour of the Very Rev Ernald Lane.

The rare portrait by Aubrey Waterfield, a member of British-Italian high society who founded the British Institute of Florence, sold for just £385.

It was listed 10 days ago with what choir member William Miller called a "low estimate" of £350.

St Matthew's church officials hoped someone in Rochester would buy it, but the winning bidder has kept their identity secret.

They need £220,000 to restore their church roof.

Mr Miller said: "It was quite difficult to value but the artist was very eminent. This was thought to be his first painting on the market for decades."

The Dean, a role which has existed for centuries, oversees the day-to-day running of the cathedral and is answerable only to the bishop.