Clipstone man's shock at finding huge stash of grenades in Mansfield woodland

A controlled explosion was carried out on a large number of grenades discovered in a Forest Town woodland by a man out walking with his wife.
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Ian Fishwick, 55, of Clipstone stumbled across what he thought were old rusty tools half buried in the ground in woods off Clipstone Drive on Monday morning.

He dug out the ‘screwdrivers’ and soon discovered there were many more – leading to him sharing images of the items on social media to establish what he had found.

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But he quickly discovered they were potentially lethal grenades and immediately reported the find to police, who carried out a controlled explosion later that afternoon.

The grenades were identified online after they were found in woodland in Forest Town.The grenades were identified online after they were found in woodland in Forest Town.
The grenades were identified online after they were found in woodland in Forest Town.

Ian’s son Matthew said: “My dad found them and started digging them out, then took pictures and posted them online.

"A friend of his then told him they looked like rifle grenades. Dad was really shocked, and obviously stopped digging and called the police.

"We couldn’t believe it when we heard the bomb squad had turned up.”

Around 100 grenades were discovered in total.

Ian Fishwick originally thought he had found some old screwdrivers, until he unearthed them.Ian Fishwick originally thought he had found some old screwdrivers, until he unearthed them.
Ian Fishwick originally thought he had found some old screwdrivers, until he unearthed them.
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A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: “Police were made aware of the discovery of a large number of hand grenades in a woodland area, off Clipstone Drive, at around 11.45am.

“As a precaution, our officers requested the assistance of the Joint Services Explosive Ordinance Disposal Engineers for further investigation.

“Bomb disposal experts then carried out a successful controlled explosion at around 5pm. Fortunately no evacuations were necessary, due to the rural location.”

It is not known where the grenades had come from although a military camp was based nearby during the First World War, when rifle grenades were widely used.

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