Police have confirmed that an unexploded bomb, believed to date from the Second World War, has been found in the river near Bishop Monkton. Amateur diver, Adam Makewell was diving with a friend at the weekend when he claims they noticed something unusual below the water. The divers say they informed the police and Navy bomb disposal experts were brought in yesterday (Wednesday) to deal with the bomb which apparently had 200Kg of explosives.

Adam gave us his account of what happened:- "Last weekend (22nd March) Cameron and myself went out for an hour's river exploration. Our main task was to try out some new dive lights. We did our normal things getting footage etc. The I said to Cameron, you go off and find is something interesting. Well he certainly did that. At first he thought it was some sort of tank, so I went over to have a look and help him identify it. When I got there I realised quite quickly that it was a bomb!!!!!! So, after getting over our surprise, off we went down to the police station to report it. I'm sure that at first the police didn't quite believe what we thought it was. After having to email them a bit of footage things changed quite fast. The Navy bomb disposal came down from Glasgow to find it and deal with. Later that evening I got call asking if we could go help find it. So on Sunday Cameron and I went down to help. However, overnight the river came up and visibility dropped to almost zero so no luck that day. Eventually the bomb was found to be live and had approximately 200kg of explosive left inside. So that could make it an SC500 High Explosive German bomb. The guys detonated it late Wednesday afternoon to make it safe. So there ends the this stage of the story for now."

North Yorkshire Police issued this statement-

"An unexploded device – suspected to be from World War Two – was found in the River Ure over the weekend, between Bishop Monkton and the Newby Hall estate.

The device was not deemed to be any immediate risk. The Royal Navy were drafted in and yesterday afternoon (Wednesday 26 March 2025) specialist divers detonated the device.

Police, Navy and a range of other organisations were involved in making the area safe, and managing any potential risk to local wildlife and the river.

A police cordon that was in place around the area is now lifted and the section of the River Ure is open to boats. "