Yesterday on a piece of waste ground near my house I was testing the detector. All I found that I could dig out was a crushed coke can (which I eft behind) and a 1/4" drill bit.
However, I did notice a threaded piece of metal poking out of the ground on a steep bank which leads down to a small river. On closer examination it turned out to be a Mills Grenade centre piece! As it was already extremely corroded and pitted I sand blasted it at work today. Some of the markings on the bottom came up. They are "Z" or "N" (not sure which way up it is supposed to go) and "41". This item has never been exploded (but contains no cap of fuze).
I will now have to investigate further as to any Home Guard activity in the area. However, some of this site was used as a landfill site, and the soil is extremely difficult to dig because it is so full up with rubble and hardcore. This also means that the mills centre piece could have come from anywhere. It is interesting that it appears to have come from a dismantled, not detonated grenade. The fuze channel is intact and the threads are not stripped. However there is now a small hole at the top, as some of the zinc had corroded completely and disappeared when I sand blasted it.
I will post anything else I find at the site or information I find out here. I might also take a full sized spade as I only had a garden trowel with me
