Five stained glass windows from a Durban church built in 1868 have been stolen by scrap metal thieves, the Mercury newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the thieves removed the windows of Durban's historical St Thomas Anglican Church in Musgrave on Sunday night.

"They [the thieves] obviously want the lead, but to destroy an irreplaceable part of our history just for a hundred rands..." church warden Barnie Barnard was quoted as saying.

The windows depicted biblical scenes.

According to the report the church had last month removed wrought iron from the grave stones in a bid to prevent looting.