The legacy of war…

Controlled Explosion on May 21
When a call comes in to Selsey Coastguard Rescue Team for an incident at Medmerry Beach, they’re reasonably sure what it will be: a rather dangerous leftover from World War Two.

During the Second World War Selsey had a bombing range for air to ground attack practice. The area has also suffered from flooding and erosion by the sea which – in 2011 – led to the Environment Agency constructing a flood bank. This created an amazing new wetland – but also flooded the old bombing range which means these days it’s quite common for World War Two bombs to appear on the beach or be washed up.

Ashley Pledger from the CRT says there have been a few interesting moments: ‘Last October we were called to our largest piece of ordnance – a 500lb depth charge bomb which was probably dropped from a plane during the war.

‘It ended up being a 21 hour job for us. We had to close the beach and stay through the night until the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team was able to carry out a controlled explosion. It’s always exciting to see the EOD do this – although from a safe distance, obviously. We maintain the cordon until they give us the ‘all-clear’ to safely reopen the beach.’

Selsey Coastguard Rescue Team
‘It’s scary the amount of ordnance that’s out there. How much there is, we might never know. At the beginning of June we were called to reports of an old sea mine washed up on the beach. While we were there waiting for EOD, we also found a depth charge, several bombs and multiple amounts of ordnance which meant we had to extend our safety cordon even further.’


‘Because it is so dangerous, it’s really important that if you do come across anything you think might be a bomb or other ordnance that you shouldn’t touch it and you should call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.’

Ordnance found on UK beaches

Some of the ordnance found by the Selsey Team

Ordnance found on UK beaches





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