Unexploded bomb uncovered in York (From York Press)
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Unexploded bomb uncovered in York
9:30am Tuesday 10th January 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell and Richard Catton
Members of the army bomb squad arrive in York after workers excavating a site in Hull Road uncovered an unexploded bomb.
Updated: A BUSY road was closed and residents and school-pupils told to stay indoors, after an explosive was found at a building site in York.
A large section of Hull Road was closed by police yesterday afternoon as army bomb disposal experts from Catterick examined and removed the explosive, believed by North Yorkshire Police to be a naval shell. The device was dug up at about 1pm yesterday at the former dairy on Hull Road, where student accommodation is being built.
Workman Jim Lee, 30, who unearthed the device in his digger, said: “I dug it up in the bucket. I saw it in there but didn’t know straight away what it was. I put the load down and two of us had a look at it and then we got two others to have a look at it. The foreman called the police and then the site was evacuated.”
Speaking from behind the police cordon, Mr Lee said he wasn’t worried the device would explode, but said he was “glad not to be sitting next to it anymore.”
Stuart Palin, another workman at the site, said: “You could see about 18 inches of it sticking out of the ground and you could see the domed end of it, like something from the Second World War.”
The shell was later taken to Imphal barracks in Fulford where it was destroyed in a controlled explosion.
Residents on Hull Road were urged to remain indoors following the discovery and the road remained closed for about two hours. Pupils at St Lawrence’s CE Primary School, which backs on to the site, were also told to stay indoors.
Shortly after the find, a worker at Harpers fish and chip shop, on Hull Road, told The Press: “We have been made to shut up shop and nobody has been allowed in to the area.
“There are loads of fire engines and police cars and we have been told that they are waiting for the bomb disposal unit to turn up – but that could take as long as three hours.”
Police said the device was believed to be a naval shell, but mystery surrounds how it came to be 40 miles from the coast.
Nick Hill, director of Eden Camp military museum near Pickering, said a naval shell could not have travelled as far as York from the east coast.
He said:”If it had been an aerial bomb, it would have caused a lot more inconvenience.
“Whoever found the bomb has done the right thing by contacting people. It might have been a souvenir but you can never be too safe with these things.”
Hugh Murray, a York historian and author, said the only record of Hull Road being targeted during the Second World War was an incendiary attack on the evening of January 2, 1941.
He said: “They dropped them in a line starting at St Margaret’s in Walmgate then down Hull Road. Lazenby’s garage in Hull Road was hit and a joinery shop further along.”
Comments(52)
Expat
says...
1:59pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Smiler
says...
2:19pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Expat wrote:It's a bomb and it's unexploded...
More details.
I doubt you would find a press photographer that will go up to it and take a picture.
on a serious note, there are hundreds of these lying around after the war. very dangerous things too....
Glad i don't live nearby.
was york now rotherham
says...
2:28pm Mon 9 Jan 12
sheps lad
says...
2:30pm Mon 9 Jan 12
rattydriver
says...
2:39pm Mon 9 Jan 12
hannah16
says...
2:42pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Smiler wrote:it's pretty mental out there, I've just tried to get home, as I live up the road from it.
Expat wrote:It's a bomb and it's unexploded...
More details.
I doubt you would find a press photographer that will go up to it and take a picture.
on a serious note, there are hundreds of these lying around after the war. very dangerous things too....
Glad i don't live nearby.
Head of Bomber Command
says...
2:48pm Mon 9 Jan 12
xtc
says...
2:48pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Joewithajay
says...
2:51pm Mon 9 Jan 12
kluens
says...
2:56pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Police advised against getting closer for photos, at least he was cheerful.
shiftywillow
says...
3:00pm Mon 9 Jan 12
insanenutta
says...
3:06pm Mon 9 Jan 12
sheps lad
says...
3:06pm Mon 9 Jan 12
shiftywillow wrote:Green Dykes Lane is still open, presume your bus wil use that route.
Anyone know if/where the No' 10 buses have been diverted?
CJPG
says...
3:19pm Mon 9 Jan 12
furry snout
says...
3:19pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Firedrake
says...
3:19pm Mon 9 Jan 12
The "domed end" suggests to me that - just possibly - this might be a WWI Zeppelin bomb, and I have a feeling the ship that bombed Heworth in May 1916 tracked across the Hull road area first.
Of course I'm only speculating, and time will tell!
lisa pollen
says...
3:22pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Smiler wrote:i would go and take a picture if i knew i was gunna get paid for it come on the work men have been trundling around over it for the past few weeks now surely if it was to go boom it would have done so by now so someone walking close enough to take a photo im sure wont make it go off,
Expat wrote:It's a bomb and it's unexploded...
More details.
I doubt you would find a press photographer that will go up to it and take a picture.
on a serious note, there are hundreds of these lying around after the war. very dangerous things too....
Glad i don't live nearby.
sarahlooby_lou
says...
3:29pm Mon 9 Jan 12
LimaSierra
says...
3:30pm Mon 9 Jan 12
CJPG wrote:I thought the exact same thing!
"The firm said the flats would be spread across five blocks, most of which would be four-and-a-half storeys tall". Does that mean one of the storeys is for students of restricted growth?
Pete the Brickie
says...
3:52pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Bomb drama in York
I hope it's going to be better than that rubbish about angels coming to earth as solicitors that was on ITV last Thursday.
insanenutta
says...
4:02pm Mon 9 Jan 12
insanenutta
says...
4:02pm Mon 9 Jan 12
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
4:05pm Mon 9 Jan 12
They could have interned James Alexander as well while they were at it.
the andrew
says...
4:11pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Mister Sheen
says...
4:21pm Mon 9 Jan 12
....and then....we....'ad a cup o' tea, right said Fred........da da da da daaaa da........
lezyork1966
says...
4:21pm Mon 9 Jan 12
facebook.com/flez196
6/photos
theres a road, with some police cars, workmen hanging about, a fire engine, some blue n white tape, oh a police pushbike...
oh and the suspected digger taken from a garden of an house for sale that backed onto tthe sight, naughty me....
pedalling paul
says...
4:56pm Mon 9 Jan 12
paulinesnowden
says...
5:29pm Mon 9 Jan 12
insanenutta wrote:the bomb is probably from
at least its quiet for a change
york blitz
about april 2nd 1942
George Appleby
says...
5:34pm Mon 9 Jan 12
We used to get lone raiders dropping their remaining bombs, some times breaking away from raids on Hull. These were very heavy and regular. We could see the glow in the sky and felt sorry for them. They were after the Russian convoys.
We had a loner dropped on Osbalwick Lane, not far from the (Bees Wing?) Others on Constantine and Alcuin Avenues, near the park. We were evacuated into St Hildred's school Hall one night until they were dealt with. Also incendaries.
Warnings were regular.
Grumpy Old Man
says...
6:19pm Mon 9 Jan 12
paulinesnowden wrote:No, it isn't. The bomb pattern was on a line from Clifton, over the railway station, the Guildhall and Coney Street, down Nunnery Lane and over Southlands. It went nowhere near Lawrence Street
insanenutta wrote:the bomb is probably from
at least its quiet for a change
york blitz
about april 2nd 1942
Grumpy Old Man
says...
6:21pm Mon 9 Jan 12
ReginaldBiscuit wrote:Ho, ho,ho. Laugh? I thought I'd never start. Where do you live now? Obviously a few thoudand miles away from the UK not to notice what Cameron and Co are doing to destroy this country. Come home sometime and take a look.
Was the unidentified 'thing' Gordon Brown? If it was, the rozzers should have reburied him for all the damage that he has done to the UK.
They could have interned James Alexander as well while they were at it.
Guy Fawkes
says...
7:00pm Mon 9 Jan 12
And the petrol station next door! Oh big bang!!!!
The following story is completely true.
A few years back, I was chatting to an archivist at the Imperial War Museum at a conference. The conversation turned to the conservation (excuse the pun!) of mechanically complex objects - how viable is it to try to keep them in working order, etc.
She told me about a bloke who phoned them up out of the blue, explaining that his father had served in WWI and had kept two artillery shells as souvenirs, which had been placed on either side of his fireplace for about six decades afterwards. When the father passed away, the shells were offered to the IWM.
Now everyone assumed - not unreasonably, given the age of the shells - that they'd been made safe in the process of being turned into fireside ornaments. My colleague's suspicions were first aroused when, in response to her 'Why don't you bring them in and we'll have a look?', the caller seemed somewhat reluctant. A few days later, a Transit van showed up at the IWM's doorstep, the driver explaining that it would take two or three people to manhandle the two shells inside to the museum.
The bottom line was that they were 500lb shells, still with a live and viable charge, and which could have detonated at any time during the half-century they sat by their owner's fireplace. And where was that fireplace? The owner ran, and lived above, a petrol station! It was later worked out that if they'd have detonated, the resulting explosion would have flattened a half-mile radius.
dodgydavereturns
says...
7:06pm Mon 9 Jan 12
....It's like a bomb site!
Nthooze
says...
7:45pm Mon 9 Jan 12
ReginaldBiscuit
says...
7:55pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Grumpy Old Man wrote:Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
ReginaldBiscuit wrote:Ho, ho,ho. Laugh? I thought I'd never start. Where do you live now? Obviously a few thoudand miles away from the UK not to notice what Cameron and Co are doing to destroy this country. Come home sometime and take a look.
Was the unidentified 'thing' Gordon Brown? If it was, the rozzers should have reburied him for all the damage that he has done to the UK.
They could have interned James Alexander as well while they were at it.
arg
says...
8:18pm Mon 9 Jan 12
A MAP!!!!!!!!!
As it happens I know this location but i bet lots of readers didn't.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!
civilservant
says...
9:09pm Mon 9 Jan 12
Silver
says...
9:55pm Mon 9 Jan 12
George Appleby wrote:Could have been that one so running back through Hull Road that day could have gone badly for you then...
I would be about 13 when a pal and I, living at the Tang Hall Lane end of 5th Ave, were by the river near Skeldergate Bridge one Sunday afternoon during the war. A loan German Junkers 88 flew along the river and we saw the bomb doors open. One fell at the bottom of the steps up to Cliffords Tower. Another fell on the Terrys side of the bridge and didn't go off. We set off and ran through to Hull Road for home. Another fell on the Brown Cow off Walmgate and the pub was damaged.
We used to get lone raiders dropping their remaining bombs, some times breaking away from raids on Hull. These were very heavy and regular. We could see the glow in the sky and felt sorry for them. They were after the Russian convoys.
We had a loner dropped on Osbalwick Lane, not far from the (Bees Wing?) Others on Constantine and Alcuin Avenues, near the park. We were evacuated into St Hildred's school Hall one night until they were dealt with. Also incendaries.
Warnings were regular.
Alpha Kenny Thing
says...
10:31pm Mon 9 Jan 12
George Appleby wrote:The most interesting thing I have ever read on this website.
I would be about 13 when a pal and I, living at the Tang Hall Lane end of 5th Ave, were by the river near Skeldergate Bridge one Sunday afternoon during the war. A loan German Junkers 88 flew along the river and we saw the bomb doors open. One fell at the bottom of the steps up to Cliffords Tower. Another fell on the Terrys side of the bridge and didn't go off. We set off and ran through to Hull Road for home. Another fell on the Brown Cow off Walmgate and the pub was damaged.
We used to get lone raiders dropping their remaining bombs, some times breaking away from raids on Hull. These were very heavy and regular. We could see the glow in the sky and felt sorry for them. They were after the Russian convoys.
We had a loner dropped on Osbalwick Lane, not far from the (Bees Wing?) Others on Constantine and Alcuin Avenues, near the park. We were evacuated into St Hildred's school Hall one night until they were dealt with. Also incendaries.
Warnings were regular.
Thank you Sir.
Firedrake
says...
10:11am Tue 10 Jan 12
whitehorse
says...
12:00pm Tue 10 Jan 12
Alpha Kenny Thing wrote:Hear, hear. Really interesting stuff. As an outsider, I'd heard of the Baedeker Raid, but assumed that was the only time York suffered. Researching the topic a month or two back, I found a great website that lists details of all the bombing raids on York, what was dropped, what was destroyed and who was killed. It makes for grim reading. Surprisingly, the Groves was quite badly bombed which I had never realised.
George Appleby wrote: I would be about 13 when a pal and I, living at the Tang Hall Lane end of 5th Ave, were by the river near Skeldergate Bridge one Sunday afternoon during the war. A loan German Junkers 88 flew along the river and we saw the bomb doors open. One fell at the bottom of the steps up to Cliffords Tower. Another fell on the Terrys side of the bridge and didn't go off. We set off and ran through to Hull Road for home. Another fell on the Brown Cow off Walmgate and the pub was damaged. We used to get lone raiders dropping their remaining bombs, some times breaking away from raids on Hull. These were very heavy and regular. We could see the glow in the sky and felt sorry for them. They were after the Russian convoys. We had a loner dropped on Osbalwick Lane, not far from the (Bees Wing?) Others on Constantine and Alcuin Avenues, near the park. We were evacuated into St Hildred's school Hall one night until they were dealt with. Also incendaries. Warnings were regular.The most interesting thing I have ever read on this website. Thank you Sir.
Loz4291
says...
12:32pm Tue 10 Jan 12
cherokee
says...
2:14pm Tue 10 Jan 12
mel_drew
says...
2:38pm Tue 10 Jan 12
Smiler wrote:Oh, I don't know. Years ago I was telling a Press photographer about the small incendiary bomb remains that a diving colleague pulled out of the river by the Guildhall (and very quickly put back.) The photographer was very anxious for me to jump in and get it for her!
Expat wrote:It's a bomb and it's unexploded...
More details.
I doubt you would find a press photographer that will go up to it and take a picture.
on a serious note, there are hundreds of these lying around after the war. very dangerous things too....
Glad i don't live nearby.
Firedrake
says...
3:07pm Tue 10 Jan 12
Sawday2
says...
3:52pm Tue 10 Jan 12
So glad it would have only caused 'inconvenience'. I'm sure the residents of the East End or Dresden were also pleased that they only suffered from 'inconvenience' rather than something more serious!!
Turpinette
says...
6:38pm Tue 10 Jan 12
insanenutta wrote:Its on Hull Road, as it starts at Olympian Court, just before the old dairy site as you head out of town, not at the junction of Melrosegate (which would be more logical). There's signs up showing the change of road name on the bus stop at the end of Olympian Court. Not many people know that...
im sure its lawrence street not hull road even shows it on the map lol
George Appleby
says...
8:03pm Tue 10 Jan 12
Avensis Lady
says...
8:58pm Tue 10 Jan 12
Nothing rhymes with orange!
says...
10:25pm Thu 12 Jan 12
Fired from where ?
Scarborough ?
Some *uc*ing gun eh ?
Nothing rhymes with orange!
says...
10:34pm Thu 12 Jan 12
The only thing York and Germany has in common is that they bombed each other in 1945 !
Andy1675 says...
1:53pm Mon 9 Jan 12