Unexploded bomb situation defused

At around 2.45pm on Friday, May 22, army officers detonated the device using a remote system.

Staff Sergeant Kim Slaughter, who was in charge of the operation, said: "It was a textbook detonation and went according to plan. Nobody was in danger, it did what it was designed to do.

"It was a big explosion but because of the mitigation we put on it, the effect was contained."

An army spokesman confirmed it was an unexploded World War II bomb, weighing around sixty kilos, of a kind brought over singly.

Before the explosion, the site contractors worked with the army and police to prepare the site.

The device was unearthed, and an eight foot pit dug to contain it in the centre of the building site at Hollenden House on Buckhurst Road.

36 tonnes of fine earth were heaped on top of the device.

Sandbags were also used to help surpress the explosive force, and two trenches, four foot wide and six foot deep were dug either side of the bomb to absorb shockwaves travelling in the direction of buildings.

Onlookers were kept at a 50 metre radius, with evacuated residents told to leave windows and doors open, to negate the percussive effects of the blast.

The device was found on Thursday by Gary Markwick, a subcontractor working on the site.

The bucket of his digger scraped a layer of rust from the bomb as Gary used the arm.

He said: "I knew what it was straight away. Even though it's 68 years old, the metal is shiny underneath.

"I dragged the digger back and you can feel there's something. It had been completely uncovered, you could see the nose cone."

Children of St Peter and St Paul's C of E School were evacuated yesterday as the site backs onto the school's playing field.

Sgt Dan Russell, of Bexhill Police, was on the scene to oversee proceedings. He said: "We're very pleased that it went well and the public were never in danger.

"I want to thank the public for their co-operation today."

A map showing where bombs fell in WWII was printed in the Bexhill Observer in 1944. The top of Buckhurst Road shows a cluster of three hits.

A member of the public speculated there may be more surprises waiting to be unearthed.