Grenade found in Treeton made safe by bomb squad

Instead, the van moving around their suburb created a different sort of chill – it was an army bomb disposal unit vehicle.

The unusual arrival in the district around the Spa Well Crescent area followed reports from the public of a "suspicious item" being discovered.

One theory doing the rounds was that an object from a RAF Meteor jet, which crashed into the colliery slag heap in 1954, killing the pilot, Flying Officer John Frederick Fisher, could have been unearthed some 70 years later.

Others thought the vehicle was a more modern-day vehicle – a converted van which could be used as a stag or hen party bus.

South Yorkshire Police finally put an end to the rumours.

They told the Advertiser: "At 5.31pm (Monday June 16), we were called to reports of a suspicious item, believed to be an unexploded ordnance, at Spa Well Crescent, Rotherham.

"A cordon was established and the army's explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team attended and determined that the item was a hand grenade.

"EOD made the grenade safe and the cordon was released at 8.11pm."

The weapon is thought to have been a carelessly discarded Second World War Home Guard hand grenade.

It appears to be the season for discovering long-lost grenades, in England.

Last month, they turned up elsewhere when:

*A magnet‑fisher pulled a Mills Bomb (hand grenade) from the River Trent near Wilford Toll Bridge, Nottingham.

*A grenade was found near Swinhoe Road, Newcastle, prompting the evacuation of a children’s club at Great Park Community Centre.

*A similar World War II device was brought to Ashbourne Primary School, Derbyshire, by a pupil during "show and tell."

The school was evacuated, and the Army bomb squad confirmed it was inert via X-ray scan.