Residents have spoken about their surprise after a grenade was found at a property in Bury.

Chesham Road, just off Walmersley Road, was cordoned off on Friday afternoon following reports of a “suspicious item” were made to the emergency services.

Emergency services - including the army bomb disposal squad, fire, ambulance and police - were at the scene.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed that a "precautionary controlled explosion" was conducted.

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It is understood the item was an old grenade which was found during renovations.

Local residents spoke of their surprise.

Bury Times: Army Bomb Disposal unit Army Bomb Disposal unit (Image: Andrew Mayfield)

Andrew Mayfield said that he first saw a lot of commotion outside and wondered what was going on.

He said: “I just saw flashing lights and lots of people outside and I wondered what was going on.

“All this commotion going on and didn’t know what it was, but it looked interesting.

“The fact that something like this happened around here is surprising.”

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Andrew’s partner Marguerite Heywood said: “We saw the whole thing unfold from the bedroom window.

“What I thought initially was that during the WWII a bomb actually fell in that very spot and it blew the roofs off all the houses on Chesham Road.

Bury Times: Emergency services at the scene Emergency services at the scene (Image: NQ)

“I thought when we saw the bomb disposal team that perhaps it was some relic of when that happened.

“It turns out it wasn’t as it was a grenade but the bang itself was quite forceful, I was quite nervous.

“I thought it can’t be that bad as there were still people on the road.

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“When the bang came it actually was loud, and the loudness was the sort that goes into your body. That was a bit of a surprise, but they covered it very well with sandbags.

“What was quite funny was people were having glasses of wine whilst they were watching. It became a bit of a social afternoon really.”