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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Ashley Summerfield

Magnet fisherman finds six WW2 submachine guns in canal

A magnet fisherman was surprised to find six WW2 submachine guns in a canal.

Nigel Lamford, 50, found the Sten guns when using his specially made magnet, capable of lifting over a ton of metal from the water.

He threw the magnet into the canal at random, and was thrilled to pull out a magazine - followed by the gun and stock which they re-assembled on the bank.

The grime-covered weapon was the first of six that Nigel and his friends discovered in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire.

He and his fellow magnet fishers posed with the weapons before they were taken away to a local military museum.

Dad-of-three Nigel, who runs the UK's biggest magnet fishing YouTube channel, said it is his best find ever.

The guns were found in a stretch of water near the site of the former Royal Ordnance Depot.

Nigel believes the weapons are worth around £1,000 each and could be fired if cleaned out.

The auto-electrician from Kettering, Northamptonshire, said: "A find like that was just the best find ever in my opinion.

"You can find some amazing stuff, but I've never found so many guns in such good condition together.

"They're such iconic guns, we all had great fun posing with them and putting them all back together once I'd pulled them out".

Nigel pulled the Stens from the canal during a 10-hour fishing session on January 9.

The famous submachine gun was one of the most well-used weapons in WW2 by British forces, with over two million being made.

With the biggest magnet fishing YouTube channel in the UK, this is just one of many of Nigel's discoveries from Britain's rivers.

He has previously uncovered artillery shells, grenades, knives and flintlock muskets from the 18th century.

Pulling the weapons out of a canal on private land near Weedon bec, Northamptonshire, he has now surrendered the weapons to the local military museum to clean up.

He has discovered all kinds of historical relics across the country, even briefly accidentally closing down part of Reading after discovering an artillery shell in the Thames.

Nigel said: "I've recovered about 61 guns now in total.

"You don't get many very often but the place we were dredging was the UK's biggest ordinance depot for 150 years, so it goes right back to Napoleonic times.

"You obviously can't have weapons in the UK though so they are always surrendered to police to be destroyed, or given away to museums to clean up.

"We got special permission to be there because it's private land."

Nigel runs Britain's biggest magnet fishing YouTube channel, 'Northantsmagnetfishing', with viewers and sponsors from across the world.

He said: "[Magnet fishing] is getting really big in the UK now. When I first started three years ago there were maybe 10 YouTube channels for it, now there are over 100 in the UK.

"It's an amazing community too. Usually there's five of us in a group, and we go out looking together and have a bit of fun, that's the main thing".

For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.

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