Old explosive found in slate wall

Bomb disposal experts were called in to safely detonate the charge after it was discovered by David and Tracey Binks as they were demolishing an outbuilding behind their New Street home on Wednesday evening.

"It was sort of placed in the old slate wall, built into the stone," said Mrs Binks who is a scientist at Sellafield. "It's probably been there for about 100 years.

"We identified it by the label on it. It said Alfred Nobel, which is obviously the inventor of dynamite.

"We were worried because it had been there for so long. Would it be stable?"

The resourceful chemist consulted an old book she had on explosives but, while interesting, it did not offer any practical guidance on what to do with antique gelignite.

"We decided to phone the police for advice and they were absolutely brilliant," she said.

Officers told the couple to put sandbags around the explosive while they quickly called in a bomb disposal squad from Catterick, in North Yorkshire.

Residents were advised to stay clear of the scene while police cordoned off the immediate area. Police said they were prepared to evacuate residents and close roads but it did not prove necessary.

After years mouldering in stone, the ancient explosive was finally sent off with a bang as the two-man bomb squad safely detonated it in a farmer's field at around 11pm before a small crowd of onlookers.

"It caused a bit of a stir in Broughton," said Carol Johnston, of The Square Caf, who had sat on her front steps near the scene to watch events unfold. "We were a bit disappointed because it wasn't a big explosion! It was like a small firework going off."

Quite why the gelignite was stuck in a Broughton wall remains a bit of a mystery. The explosive was once used for mining and could perhaps have been left by a clumsy quarryman.

But Mrs Binks declined to speculate on its origins and was not aware of anything in their house's history that offered any clues.