A West Cumbria village was put on red alert yesterday after a suspected bomb was unearthed in the garden of a house in Seaton.

Builders working at the site on Quality Corner discovered the 12in by 8in metal cylinder in a hole they were digging to reach a drainage pipe.

The police were notified and arrived to cordon off the street at about 10am.

A bomb disposal team was then called in from the Royal Logistics Corps based at Catterick, North Yorkshire who arrived shortly before 2pm.

They examined and X-rayed the item before taking it away in a case.

It is understood it was not dangerous.

The home owner, Isabella Burns, 62, said: "The builders were going through the drive in order to get to the drains and they were digging and then they found it.

"They didn't know what it was. I couldn't believe it.

"The day had started off normally, but then it was just chaos.

"I phoned my daughter who works at Workington hospital and the police asked me if I had a friend I could go to."

Isabella, a midwife at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, was eventually allowed back into her house once the object had been removed and Quality Corner was reopened shortly after 2pm.

Edith McMullen, 93, of nearby Ling Beck, said: "I was coming back from the shops and I saw this tape across the street, but I wasn't aware that it was police tape.

"I lived in Workington during the war and I can't remember any bombing ever happening in this area."