Heathpatch's office had a little drama this week when, Paul, one of our contractors, (from www.gilliesfencing.com), found what he thought was an unexploded bomb in one of our fields.
Paul was working in our fields west of Lindsey and unearthed a large rusty cylinder. Paul didn't take any chances and phoned our office.
The office got on the phone to the Police, sent them the above pictures and a short while later several officers arrived to assess the situation.
The verdict was that it was indeed a WW2 bomb and a rather large one at that. The army were duly called in but didn't have enough explosives on hand to detonate it safely. A 400 m cordon was put in place but thankfully there were no houses or stock close by that were considered in danger. Some of the officers were deployed to spend the night guarding the site until the required explosives could be brought on to the field.
The Army returned in the morning with the necessary equipment. A trench was dug to place the bomb in, hoping that the ground would absorb the shock. There were warnings that a nearby mature oak might be in danger but it was considered just too dangerous to move the bomb very far.
All onlookers retreated to a safe distance for the Army to detonate their explosives. There was a small thud and it was over. It turned out to be a training bomb for target practise with no explosives inside... The trench above is AFTER the explosion and below is the remains of the 'bomb'. The excitement was over.
But who would have known? Everyone did exactly the right thing and Heathpatch couldn't be more grateful to Suffolk Police and the Army for their prompt actions, ensuring the safety of everyone. We are also very grateful that no damage was done to the oak or the countryside.