The Royal Navy’s bomb disposal unit has confirmed what workmen dug up in Southampton city centre last week.
Office staff and residents living on Cumberland Place, Brunswick Place, and Havelock Road were evacuated from buildings on Thursday, March 14.
The item, which was suspected to be a historic explosive, was dug up by construction crews working on the city centre ring road scheme to redesign the road.
This comes after a construction worker confirmed to the Echo that the site where the item was found was very close to a gas main – explaining why Hampshire police’s cordon spanned more than 100 metres whilst they investigated what it was.
Southampton City Council, Hampshire Police, or the crews working on the Ring Road had no confirmation as to what the mystery item actually was.
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The Royal Navy had previously confirmed that the item was found was non-ordnance – meaning it was not a live explosive.
But now, a spokesperson for the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance team has confirmed exactly what was found by the construction crews working on Cumberland Place.
The spokesperson said: “The item found was non-ordnance and looked like a caster wheel from a chair.”
A ‘caster wheel’ is a small wheel that many may have seen attached to the bottom of an office chair.
A police officer had said last week that a World War II hand grenade was found in the construction works last week.
Speaking to the Echo, a source said that the object was positioned very close to a major gas pipe that ran underneath the city, which caused alarm for police and the bomb squad.
“If the device had been a live explosive, it could have been a dark day for the city as it was just meters from a massive gas main that goes through a lot of the city centre.
“It could have meant that Southampton exploded – that’s why there was a such massive cordon.”
A 100-metre cordon was set up by police, but shortly after 1pm, the cordons were taken down as the device was found to be "non-ordnance".
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “Bomb disposal experts from Bravo Squadron of the Royal Navy’s Diving Threat and Exploitation Group were called to Southampton city centre on March 14 at the request of Hampshire Police.
“Upon arrival, the item was found to be non-ordnance.”
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