Man finds his second unexploded grenade in the River Frome, Dorchester, army EOD and police respond.

Mr Hill, a metal detectorist from Dorchester, found his second unexploded grenade in the River Frome and his third grenade find in total. Mr Hill was magnet fishing in the river, which has become a popular pastime.

Unexploded grenade found in river frome

He realised his discovery as soon as he removed it from the river. This follows from the last grenade he found and fished out of the river, which he took home before realising what the item was.

On finding the grenade Mr Hill said, “I was magnet fishing by myself in the River From near the road behind Dorchester Prison when I pulled it up out of the water – around 2pm.

“I called the police straightaway as I realised what it was. When I pulled it up I though ‘oh no, not another one’ – this will be the third one I have found personally, and the fourth on the group [Dorset Magnet Fishing Community]”.

Dorset Police said they received a report at 2.35pm on Monday of a rusty unexploded grenade pulled from a river in Dorchester. An explosive ordnance disposal team was informed, and a cordon was put in place.

Those who enjoy magnet fishing have bee warned by explosive experts to exercise extreme caution as WW2 unexploded ordnance (UXO) is dangerous, and that despite its age, a detonation is still very much a possibility.

Earlier this year an unexploded WW2 grenade was found in by a magnet fisher in Lancashire. Last year, Che Williams, a magnet fisher from the West Midlands, found 19 grenades in a single outing near Birmingham.

The most frequently found grenade are known as ‘Mills Bombs’. Production started before the WW1 and they were the standard issue grenade for British force up until the 1970s. There were four main variants through its service life, the No. 5, No.23, No.36 and No.36M (which has a protective shellac coating).

Brimstone is a leading provider of UXO risk management support, including explosive ordnance disposal, conventional munitions disposal, preliminary UXO risk assessment and detailed UXO risk assessments, intrusive and non-intrusive UXO surveys, UXO safety brief, UXO watching brief and borehole clearance. If you need specialist UXO support reach out to the team.