A garden trough in which a couple grew plants for 30 years is a 2,000-year-old Roman marble coffin worth more than £100,000, The Sun has reported.

The 6ft 9ins ornament was there when the unsuspecting couple bought their home near Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, in 1982. They used it to grow heather, spring bulbs and bedding plants.

But the one-ton trough has now been identified as a rare sarcophagus dating from the first or second century AD. Auctioneer Guy Schwinge said the owners guessed it may be worth a fortune after a similar one was sold last year.

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