VOLUNTEERS at Watchet's Market House Museum found themselves trying to identify an artefact with more than a sting in its tail.

And the mystery item handed in last Thursday led to a visit from bomb disposal engineers.

A local resident had found what turned out to be a nose cone fuse or detonator for an artillery shell at Helwell beach earlier in the day.

Thinking it was something from a ship but unable to determine exactly what it was, they eventually took it to the museum.

It was put to one side until volunteer Tim Prior came on duty in the afternoon.

"Someone mentioned that something had been brought in but I didn't get round to looking at it straight away," he said.

However, Mr Prior's suspicions were aroused when he did examine it, sparking a chain of events that led to an area of the town being cordoned off for almost four hours.

Fearing that it could contain some explosive, Mr Prior called the police, who told him to put the item somewhere safe.

He placed it on the nearby slipway, making sure everyone kept well away until local officers arrived.

They set up a safety cordon and later took photographs of the detonator which were sent on to bomb disposal experts.

"They apparently had a look at it and announced they were on their way," said Mr Prior.

A spokesman for the Avon and Somerset police confirmed that a bomb disposal unit from Tidworth in Wiltshire arrived in the town at about 6.30pm, took the item away and dealt with it.

"It was about six inches long," said the spokesman.

"Our officers took photographs so they could appraise the bomb disposal unit who then decided they needed to attend."

Mr Prior said the temporary addition to the museum's collection had sparked interest and even a bit of excitement.

"It was a bit unusual. It looks as though it probably came from the old firing range at Doniford, which I think was used until the 1950s.

"It would have contained a certain amount of explosives because its job was to detonate the shell so it was potentially dangerous.

"I understand that the person who found it took it into a number of shops and Pebbles Tavern before bringing it to the museum so it went on a bit of a journey.

"It was certainly a bit different to most of the things that are brought in – and it's not every day you get a bomb disposal team in Watchet."