On this day in Wembury — 18 July 1939

At Knighton Farm, Wembury, farmer M.J. Sherwill carried on with his routine work while waiting for military authorities from Plymouth to investigate the discovery of a shell in his orchard the previous day. The shell—about three inches in diameter and 18 inches long—was rusted and thought to be of considerable age, but assumed at first to be live. It had been found by farm assistant Walter Norfolk while cutting weeds with a scythe. Sherwill reported the discovery to police, who in turn contacted the Ordnance Depot in Plymouth.

The following day, Army experts removed the shell and confirmed it was “dead”—an 18-pounder shrapnel shell of the type used during the Great War. It was thought most likely to have been kept as an ornamental relic and left in the orchard.

(Sources: Western Morning News, 19 & 20 July 1939 — reporting events of 18 July 1939.)