TESTS could be carried out on an animal bone found on a beach to determine whether there is a link with a town's famous monkey-hanging legend.

The leg bone was discovered on a stretch of coast where a monkey was said to have been sentenced to death during the Napoleonic wars after locals thought it was a French spy.

A pathologist confirmed the bone came from a large monkey or gorilla, after detectives initially thought they were dealing with a human body part on the beach at Seaton Carew, Hartlepool.

Council chiefs in Hartlepool are now planning to ask police to hand over the bone so archaeologists can carry out tests to establish any possible links with a tale that goes back 200 years.

Folklore says an enemy ship was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool during the 1793 to 1815 wars and a monkey, dressed in a French sailor's uniform, was the only survivor.

Fears of an invasion were high, and fishermen who picked up the monkey thought it was a spy and sentenced it to death by hanging.

The legend of the monkey-hangers - the town's football club even has a monkey mascot called H'Angus - is known across the country, although many doubt its authenticity.

Now there is a belief that the story is true - and the bone could find its way into one of the town's museums.

A Hartlepool Borough Council spokesman said last night: "We will be making an approach to the police to see whether we can have a look at it and perhaps examine it ourselves."

Mark Simmons, from the Museum of Hartlepool, said: "A lot of animal bone gets washed up on Seaton beach.

"Up until about 2,000 years ago, the whole area was a big forest. When the coastline changed and tides swallowed the area up, it covered trees, animal remains and human occupation."

Mr Simmons urged believers in the legend not to get carried away with the discovery, which was made by a family looking for sea shells.

"The bone is most likely something very old rather than Napoleonic," he said.