The sale of a walking stick taken by the author Virginia Woolf to the river where she killed herself has been described as ghoulish.

The stick was found in mud by the River Ouse after the writer had filled the pockets of her coat with stones and drowned herself on March 28, 1941.

It is being sold by Gorringes auction house in Lewes, close to where the writer - a member of the famous Bloomsbury group - had a home.

Other items belonging to the writer, including some of her own books and her husband's records, will be sold at the auction, which starts next Tuesday.

Valuers believe the stick could fetch up to £300.

A Gorringes spokesman said: "There has always been a lot of interest in Virginia Woolf and we are sure the walking stick will be sold."

Specialist book seller Paul Evans, 39, of Lancing, said: "I think there will be a lot of interest in the stick but several of my customers have said it would be too ghoulish to own.

"I think it is a ghastly thing. I think people would prefer her typewriter to be sold, which is not something so closely associated with her suicide."

At the time of her death, Virginia Woolf, 59, was living at Monk's House in Rodmell, near Lewes. She was cremated in Brighton.

Her best-known novels include Orlando and To The Lighthouse.