MORE than 100 unexploded Second World War items were found washed up on the coast of Cumbria.

A member of the public stumbled upon the items and immediately alerted the coastguard.

Members of Millom's Coastguard Rescue Team were called to Eskmeals beach, north of Millom, but due to the tide conditions, they were unable to begin the search until lunchtime on Saturday.

Furness Coastguard were brought in for assistance, alongside the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team, also known as the Bomb Squad.

The rough tides had uncovered over 100 items.

The bomb disposal team blew ‘around a dozen’ of the items that were discovered.

John Whitford, station officer for Millom Coastguard Rescue Team said: “Items were found by a guy on Friday night who had been reading our Facebook page, and he identified them by reading the advice on the page.

“If it’s rough tides it uncovers lots of stuff.”

The area is home to MOD Eskmeals Range, a gun range that specialises in large calibre ammunition systems and conducts proof, range and accuracy trials, as well as hard target trials.

The dunes are open to the public when the range is not active.

Mr Whitford said: “A lot of it was inert so they just moved them to the safety of the gun range and the ones that were live, they blew up on the beach.

“If you know what you are looking for you can find them pretty good.

“If you see anything suspicious, ring it in - just ring the coastguard and we will send a team out to check it.

“It wouldn’t be the first time that we were called out to something like an oil filter.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry."

A spokesperson for Furness Coastguard said: “After the Second World War a lot of left over ordnance was dumped in the sea from the North of Wales to the South of Scotland and ordnance items are frequently discovered along our shoreline.”

If you suspect you have found ordnance, or are in danger around the coast, dial 999.