A Second World War mortar dug up by rooting pigs was detonated by Army bomb disposal experts this morning.

Farmer Cameron Naughton found the device beside the sties on land close to the North Wilts Golf Club on the Blacklands road, near Devizes.

Mr Naughton said: "We were attending to the pigs late yesterday afternoon and saw this thing lying on the ground. My pigman, John Russ, is former TA and said, I think you've got a bomb there, Cameron.

"We rang the police straight away and they got the bomb disposal people out."

The Explosive Ordnance Department team from Tidworth arrived and cordoned off the site. They made the area safe with sandbags before returning this morning to either take the mortar away or detonate whichever seemed safer.

They decided to detonate the device and Mr Naughton and his staff moved the pigs as far from the blast area as possible.

Gazette journalist Lewis Cowen was given the honour of pushing the buttons on the radio control panel to detonate the bomb. After a brief delay there was a heavy thud and a half-metre crater and a tail section was all that was left of the mortar.

Captain Joe Brown of the EOD team said: "Mortars would have been used around here for training during World War Two. They quite often come to light and defusing them is a large part of our job."

Mr Naughton added: "We have dug up all kinds of stuff over the years. I'm just glad it was the pigs who rooted it up rather than have a tractor or a plough go over it. The pigs were fairly gentle with it."