The mystery over the origin of tableware linked to Norfolk nurse Edith Cavell has been solved – but it appears that it has no connection to the wartime heroine and was commissioned by a Norwich hotel.

As reported, the crockery, which shows a head and shoulders picture of a woman and the word Norwich on it, was found in a city attic and gifted to the Cavell Nurses' Trust, a charity which supports nurses who need financial help following illness, injury or other difficulties.

The six place settings of dinner plates, side plates, soup bowls, a teapot and sugar bowl were believed to have been made in the 1980s in honour of Miss Cavell, who was executed by firing squad during the first world war.

But Michael Brett, from Looses of Magdalen Street in Norwich, said: 'The tableware was commissioned by the Maid's Head Hotel, which purchased it from the manufacturers Dunn Bennett. Dunn Bennett was owned by The Royal Doulton Group, which, on its acquisition of Steelite International, I think, ceased using the trade name Dunn Bennett. My guess is that the 'maid' in the centre of the plate is incidental, but it would be nice to link it with Edith Cavell.'

Christine Malcolm, general manager at the Maid's Head Hotel in Tombland, confirmed its origin, and said: 'We've still got some literature at the hotel with the same logo on it. It depicts a maid's head, as in the name of the hotel.'

Miss Cavell was born in Swardeston and the village church, St Mary's, has a collection of memorabilia connected to her. Nick Miller, keeper of the Cavell memorabilia, said he had not yet decided what to do with it.