With its bristling whiskers and alert pose, it is every inch the champion mouser.

But this cat, once the faithful servant of the Duke of Bedford, caught its last rodent more than 300 years ago.

The mummified pet, discovered in the foundations of Woburn Abbey, will go on display for the first time at the Natural History Museum's Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire.

It is believed that the cat was such a popular member of the Duke's household that he ordered it to be buried in a small brick capsule in an outhouse of the Abbey.

Dry air and low temperatures meant that the body of the animal was naturally preserved until it was uncovered by workers in 1915.

It was donated to the Natural History Museum where it entered another period of obscurity before being picked as an exhibit for the Animal Mummies show due to open next week.

Richard Sabin, Curator of Mammals at the Natural History Museum, said it may have been common practice to bury cats in the foundations of houses to ward off evil spirits.

He said: "Natural mummification is very common, probably a lot more common than people think. Roof spaces, cavity walls and in a lot of cases the foundations of peoples' houses are very, very dry.

"We don't know enough about the processes involved; they actually are far more complex than people think. What you are left with is a perfectly preserved skeleton, with very tough skin, that nothing wants to touch. Unless the specimen gets completely soaked and then goes mouldy nothing will touch it.

"Sometimes there were cats and rats buried together - it is very rare, but we have got some examples of those in the collection. It seems to be that this was a northern European tradition and there is a suggestion that it may have been bought over to England when the Saxons came over or maybe earlier."

A similarly mummified cat was found under the entrance of the Natural History Museum itself in South Kensington, London, and another recently in nearby Knightsbridge in a Georgian house which was being renovated.

The exhibition also includes a mummified gazelle foetus, a naturally preserved owl from Hampton Court Palace and examples of ancient Egyptian cats which were mummified and sold by priests.

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