A HARMLESS World War Two grenade sparked off a major alert at the weekend.

The weapon was discovered during the clearance of a house in Parkhills Road, Bury.

Because of fears the device was "live", neighbours in houses on either side of the property were evacuated and bomb squad officers from Liverpool called out.

A section of Parkhills Road, from its junction with Heywood Street to Wellington Road, was cordoned off by police officers.

An examination of the hand grenade, which was taken by Army personnel back to Merseyside, disclosed it did not contain a detenator and was therefore safe.

Until recently, the house had been occupied by pensioner Mrs Emily Hardman who is now in a residential home.

The weekend alarm was raised by the widow's niece who discovered the hand grenade while cleaning the house.

The woman and her husband, who apparently live in the Blackburn area, declined to discuss the incident with the Bury Times this week.

Near neighbours Anne and Jim Gill, together with James and Alma Ashworth, were forced to leave their homes following the alert.

Mr Ashworth said: "We were told they had found the grenade and we were asked if we could leave the house as a precaution.

"But at no time were we frightened of what was going on. Thankfully, we were only out of our home for around an hour before we were told we could go back."

It is not known if the hand grenade belonged to Mrs Hardman's husband.

An Army spokesman later confirmed the weapon was not "live" and that the grenade was of World War Two origin.

During the incident, fire and ambulance crews maintained a presence near the house until Saturday (July 26) evening's alert was eventually called off.

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