A FISHERMAN was told the lump of metal he found at Beachley was not an unexploded bomb – but the object overlooked three feet away certainly was!

A team from Chepstow Coastguard station was sent to Beachley slip after a 999 call on Sunday afternoon.

The call was received at about 4.45pm on Sunday, said Chepstow Coastguard deputy station officer Richard Hoyle.

He said: "A fisherman had noticed a metal object on the beach and was concerned about it.

"We went down and had a look and saw that it was nothing to be concerned about – but we did see an object about three feet away which we were concerned about.

"It was a Second World War seven-inch artillery shell which was uncovered by the movement of the tide.

"It was three inches in diameter and about 14 inches long.

"We sent a picture of the object to the Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal Operations Centre for advice.

"We contacted the Gloucestershire County Council out-of-hours team for sandbags to pack the object and to mark it.

"We went to the depot at Cannop to collect the bags and one of their men came from home to help us.

"We were out again at 6am on Monday to check that it hadn't moved.

"A bomb disposal team from the Royal Navy was sent out because the object was below the high water mark.

"They arrived at about 3pm and the shell was removed to Beachley Point with the assistance of personnel from Beachley Barracks where it was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

"We had to cordon off quite a large area of the mudflats to ensure any walkers were at a safe distance and we also had to have a mud rescue team on stand-by.

"We were assisted in this by colleagues from Penarth, Barry Island and Sharpness."