[16:23] There are reports on twitter that “a bomb” has been washed ashore on the beach between Hoylake and West Kirby. I (@hoylake) heard of the story via West Kirby based photographer Matt Thomas (@m4tt_thomas). Local resident Wendy Bennett (@Mummybenno) says that the police have blocked off Riversdale Road. It it not clear if access to the shore from Lingdale Road has also been blocked off.
Some of the holes at the Royal Liverpool golf course have also been closed.
[17:16] Police are not allowing access to the shore at entry points on Riversdale Road and Lingdale Road in West Kirby and Stanley Road, Hoylake. It is presumed that access to the shore via Pinfold Lane and across the golf course is also denied. Traffic along Meols Drive is currently free-flowing. Reports indicate that the device appears to be a bomb from WWII. Messages on twitter indicate that the 8th & 9th holes at Royal Liverpool golf course have been closed. A small group of people could be seen walking on the shore off West Kirby but it is not known if they were returning from Hilbre Island.
A disposal team is expected to deal with the device shortly.
[17:55] Wirral based nature photographer and writer Damien Walters (@DrumImages) reports that the device has been made safe and removed.
More updates when available.
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I’d be interested to hear if ‘washed ashore’ is really what happened or whether the thing has simply been uncovered by the tide action…it seems counter – intuitive to have a big lump of metal ‘wash ashore’, but then again that is perhaps preferable to having been buried on the beach and having been walked next to or even worse – over – by countless thousands of people in the last seventy years! I seem to remember at least one instance in the late seventies or early eighties when something similar was found (mortar bomb or bombs I think…) on the beach?
As I regularly run along that stretch of shore I really do hope its been washed ashore! Shudder to think what my size 10′s might have been plodding on!
Well following the Supermoon on March 17th, there had been a Super-Strong Tide. There have been many reports around that week of large objects being washed up, old bombs, boats, dead animals, and even strange fish. Also there has said to have been the remains of an ancient forest unearthed by the tide.
OOOH! To think i have walked up to West Kirby from Hoylake via this route so many times. Someone was certaintly watching over alot of people! Glad it is made safe now.
In the last week a cache of WW2 shells was washed ashore near The Solent. This was attributed by experts to the force of the recent strong new moon causing the shells to be dislodged from the sea bed. Possibly this is what has happened at West Kirby
Wow – who’d have thought?
That’s what I was thinking too John! It’s been nearly ten years since I was walking on Hoylake beach, but many many more before then that I too was a regular user…makes you wonder doesn’t it? The estuary would, I think, be a logical spot for bombs to turn up after a raid on the docks…maybe it has indeed washed up with a high tide but like I say, it just seems unlikely ( sitting in the braced position to proven wrong!)…
Hi folks,
Just to put your minds at rest, I was the Ambulance incident officer at West Kirby yesterday. The “bomb” was actually a practice round about 12″ long lying on top of the sand / grass, not buried and certainly not been around since the war.
The UED guys turned up picked the round up placed it in a bag and left.
so no power surge to help you run John, not yet anyway.
great site
cheers
Hello Tim – thanks for the update! I wonder where it came from …guess we’ll never know.
Hi John,
I dont know if there are batch / id numbers on these things.
The UED guys didn’t appear too bothered.
Bombs can float sometimes, for I can remember one being washed up at the Red Rocks. It must have been about 1945, as I was about seven or eight years old.. This one was about three feet long, with fins. A proper bomb. I went back the next day and it was still there,
During the war all the seaward side of the golf course was a minefield, and I can remember walking down Pinfold Lane when the mines where being exploded. I was told to wait in the little golfers shelter, and could hear the shrapnel hitting the roof of the hut after each explosion. As far as I knew the traffic on Meols Drive was not effected, but of course there wasnt very much of it those days.