Grenade from War of Independence found

A man had a lucky escape after finding a hand grenade dating back to the War of Independence on his land in Co Wexford.

A man had a lucky escape after finding a hand grenade dating back to the War of Independence on his land in Co Wexford.

Pat Foley was operating a digger on his land at Ballypreacus, Bunclody, on Wednesday when he spotted what he thought was something off a gate.

The metal object turned out to be a Mills grenade dating back to the War of Independence. The Army bomb disposal squad carried out a controlled explosion.

“They buried it and put sandbags on top of it,” Mr Foley said yesterday. “There was a huge explosion and some of the sandbags ended up in the next field.”