Scores of homes were evacuated after two Second World War hand grenades were found at two locations a few miles apart in the Black Country.

People living near Charlemont Road, in Park Hall, and Greenfields Road, in Shelfield, both Walsall, were told to leave their homes as police cordoned off both sites yesterday afternoon.

Watch our video for dramatic footage of the grenade being detonated 

Catherine Ruane, who discovered the first grenade in Charlemont Road just before 1pm, was looking after someone’s house and initially thought the device was an ornament. She shook it but called the police after seeing it still had its pin intact.

Police cleared homes for 320ft in both directions of the property to await the arrival of the bomb squad from the Royal Logistical Corps in Tewkesbury.

The grenade was taken to nearby Walsall Rugby Club and covered in sandbags where Mrs Ruane was allowed to detonate it herself.

She said: “To my amazement the police came round straight away and started cordoning off the area. I couldn’t believe it when they told me that there was another one not far from here.

“It was great to detonate it but it just makes you wonder how frightening it must have been during the war.”

The second grenade was discovered at an address in Greenfields Road, Shelfield, shortly after 1pm, by an unnamed woman clearing out a garage. Police again cordoned off the area and asked everyone to leave their homes. Officers from the bomb squad arrived just before 3pm. The grenade was taken to a nearby field and safely detonated.

Sgt Harvinder Singh Rai, who was on the scene for both incidents, said: “Finding a grenade is not unusual in itself but two at once is.”