Edinburgh magnet fishing group finds Second World War grenade in Union Canal at Linlithgow

Bomb squad attended the scene after Edinburgh group’s discovery at the weekend

The bomb squad were called out to the Union Canal in Linlithgow at the weekend after an Edinburgh magnet fishing group discovered a Second World War grenade in the water.

The discovery of the Mills hand grenade by Magnet Fishing Edinburgh on Sunday at around 3.30pm led to police and ambulance services joining the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officers at the scene. The find came on the same day that another grenade from the same era was discovered at the Harrison Park section of the Union Canal and in the same week that a mortar shell was pulled from the waterway at Chesser.

The member of Magnet Fishing Edinburgh who discovered the grenade at Linlithgow, who asked not to be named, described what happened. He said: “I found it with a heavy duty magnet on the end of my rod. Anything magnetic in the water would stick to it. As soon as I found this grenade I phoned the police, who came out and cordoned off the area. Then an ambulance arrived and the explosive ordnance disposal officers showed up.

The WW2 grenade found in the Union Canal at around 3.30pm on Sunday, October 15 by Magnet Fishing Edinburgh.

"We were there for a good two hours. The EOD took it away and took my magnet as well. I got it back the last time I made a similar discovery but I didn’t want to mess with it this time. And the bomb squad said they couldn’t remove it so they took it all away and blew it up, I don’t know where though. The magnet I had on Sunday was £200. So it was cool to find the grenade but a bit nippy to find it and lose my magnet. But I’m going to get a new magnet and get back out to the canal. Losing my magnet won’t stop me.”

Magnet Fishing Edinburgh has nearly half a million followers on TikTok, where the group regularly posts videos of their discoveries. The group member who pulled the grenade from the Union Canal in Linlithgow on Sunday explained why he enjoys this hobby so much.

He said: "I have been doing this for three years. It’s really to help clean-up the waterway and help the boats get along. I do it off my own back, buying all my equipment myself. Me and my pals go out magnet fishing. My friend and I have been out most days the past week as this is a good time of year to find stuff.

"Linlithgow is usually quite clean, we just went up there to see if we could find anything historic. There are certain areas that are bad, but Linlithgow is normally clean. So we were quite surprised to make this discovery. I’ve now found four old military pieces in the past three years. Grenades at Polwarth, Broxburn and a mortar round also, as well as the latest one.

"Back in the day the canal was used to take military equipment from Edinburgh to Glasgow between munitions factories, as they backed onto the canal. So my discoveries maybe fell off the boats transporting them. I like to find old stuff in the canal like horseshoes or war memorabilia, or something historic to the local area, as I do like my local history.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report that an explosive item had been recovered from the Union Canal in Linlithgow around 3.50pm on Sunday, October 15. EOD attended and a controlled explosion was carried out.”