A MAN told of his shock after accidentally bringing an explosive device home - two months after making a similar discovery which brought a town to a standstill.

Police and an Army bomb squad were alerted to Stephen Hill's home in Dorchester on Monday after he realised a rusting bit of metal he pulled out of a river turned out to be a wartime grenade.

READ MORE: Blandford comes to standstill after three friends find what they believed to be a bomb in the River Stour

Keen metal detectorist Mr Hill said he and his friend Callum Sykes were 'figuratively blown away' when the pair discovered what they had found in the River Frome near his Dorchester home.

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Initially, Mr Hill, 27, did not realise what it was. He put it in a bucket along with other rusty findings from the day - before taking his haul home to Holbaek Close.

He said: "It was around 1pm when I found it, but I didn't realise I pulled it out until I got home and took a look at it.

"Once I realised what it was I was shocked. I called the police and a bomb squad came to my home to remove it.

"It turned out to be a Mk1 fragmentation grenade from World War One. It was very rusted, but I would describe it as being fairly small and its shell looked like it has squares on it.

"I found it in the River Frome, just under the A35 bypass near Lubbecke Way."

Mr Hill is part of a group of keen metal detectorists called Dorset Magnet Fishing Community.

"My friend Callum had recently joined our group and this was his first outing," said Mr Hill.

"We were both blown away, figuratively of course.

"It was too rusted to see any inscriptions on it, but it was clearly an Mk1 grenade - I like the idea of discovering history."

On November 3 last year, Mr Hill had along with two friends discovered an old explosive device after searching for scrap metal in the River Stour next to the Marsh & Ham Car Park in Blandford.

Police put up a 100-metre cordon once the discovery was made and closed West Street in the town as a precaution.

Mr Hill added: "With this hobby I've found WWI barbedwire fencing and have found a 150-year-old Martini-Henry shotgun in the River Frome near Kings Road.

A spokesman from Dorset Police said: "We received a report at 3.26pm on Monday (January 3) that a grenade had been found by a member of the public who was fishing in the river near to Lubbecke Way in Dorchester.

"The device was subsequently taken to an address in Holbaek Close in the town.

"The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team attended, along with officers from Dorset Police, and removed the WW1 grenade from the area."