World of the Bizarre

Couple shocked after garden ornament turns out to be a live bomb

By T.K. Randall
December 3, 2023 ·  6 comments

The shell prompted a visit from the bomb squad. Image Credit: Capt. Rachael Jeffcoat / US Army Sian and Jeffrey Edwards from Milford Haven in Wales got quite the surprise recently when a police officer knocked on their door and told them that the Ministry of Defense would need to be alerted about the presence of an unexploded ordnance in their garden.

The shell, which was thought to date back to the 19th Century, had been sitting in their garden for years with the couple believing that it was in fact a dummy explosive that contained no charge.

The pair were left even more shocked when they were told that the entire street might have to be evacuated and that the bomb squad would arrive at the scene the very next morning.

Sure enough, bomb disposal experts wasted no time in testing the bomb - described as a 'navy projectile' - and found that it was indeed live, but that it only contained a small amount of charge.

It was subsequently taken away to a nearby quarry and detonated underneath a pile of sand.Incredibly, the projectile had originally been picked up over 100 years ago.

"Warships for the Royal Navy used to drop anchor in St Brides Bay and point their guns towards Broad Haven and open fire," Edwards explained. "They used to use the sands for target practice."

"Well Pop Morris, who went around delivering lemonade, was going down to Broad Haven with his horse and cart and found the shell. He struggled back up the beach with it, put it on the back of his cart and had a very bouncy seven-mile ride back home."

"He plonked it upright in the front courtyard and that's where it remained."

"It stood there during two world wars."

Sian and Jeffrey Edwards had always assumed the 64lb projectile in their garden was a 'dummy' https://t.co/9UfYOV4B9A

- BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) December 3, 2023

Source: BBC News | Comments (6)

Tags: Bomb