- A bomb from WWI has been safely detonated after being found at a Devon farm
- Farm workers found the 25lb shell in a wall that they were preparing to take down
- The farm manager said the previous owners had used the bomb as a door stop
- Bomb disposal experts said it was not uncommon to find WWI bombs in the area
An explosion overtook the serene setting of a farm in Devon when a 100-year-old WWI bomb was finally detonated after being used as a door stop for decades.
The 25lb shell, said to be a British projectile used during WWI, was found at Ullacombe Farm in Newton Abbot yesterday night.
Farm workers had found the shell high within a wall that they were preparing to take down on the farm’s property.
Police were called and bomb disposal experts arrived at the scene this morning to assess whether the explosive was armed and dangerous.
Lieutenant James Oxley said the shell was so old and corroded that appropriate measures needed to be taken, noting that such findings were not uncommon in the area.
The Royal Navy’s three-man team bomb disposal team took it into a remote field to exercise a controlled explosion.
Debbie Coles, manager of the farm shop, said: ‘There’s quite a history behind this bomb – apparently the grandparents of the owners used to use it [the bomb] as a door stop.’
The bomb had eventually been moved outside and put into the wall where the farm workers had found it.
Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Navy took the WWI projectile to a remote field to exercise a controlled explosion, pictured
The bomb goes off in a remote field near the Ullacombe Farm in Newton Abbot, pictured. Experts have said that it is not uncommon to find unexploded devices in the area
Farm manager Debbie Coles plans to take what’s left of the bomb and keep it as a souvenir, after it was found at the farm where she works, pictured
Ms Coles added: ‘My dad said I should give it a sharp tap on the end to check if it was still live.’
Lieutenant Oxley believes the shell came form old firing ranges in Dartmoor.
In September, MailOnline reported how the Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground was evacuated after a suspected World War II bomb was found.
Roads around the training facility in Enfield were closed and cordons were put in place as the experts handled the suspected bomb.