Though the bombs were practice bombs, “they do still carry a charge” and required removal by specialists, the parish council’s release said, adding, “These have been found with their fuse and contents still intact – and the detonator burster and smoke filling in particular can still be potentially hazardous.”
A spokesperson for the Northumberland County Council called the discovery “unexpected”.
Though the bombs were practice bombs, “they do still carry a charge” and required removal by specialists, the parish council’s release said.Credit: Mark Mather
Mark Mather, an official in Wooler, told the BBC that about a third of the park had been cleared and it was possible there were more bombs.
“It’s quite something to think the children have been playing on bombs,” Mather said.
Mather said Wooler had been a training centre for the Home Guard, a volunteer citizen militia considered the last line of defence against the Germans during World War II.
“After the war, it looked like they just buried all the ordnance in one of the pits,” Mather said.
The Ministry of Defence said a team had visited the site twice in January, the BBC reported, but it did not offer further details.
Loading
The Wooler Parish Council said it hoped contractors could resume work in April once the site had been declared safe.
Brimstone, the Ministry of Defence, Mather, the Wooler Parish Council and the Northumberland County Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
