London, May 15 (IANS): The centre of the British city of Bath was returning to normal on Saturday after experts defused a wartime bomb discovered during building work.

Contractors working at the site of a disused school in the centre of the English West Country city on Thursday discovered the around 226 kg bomb under the playground of the former Royal Bath School.

Police called in a specialist British Army unit, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team, which deals with unexploded wartime bombs. The bomb is believed to date from the Second World War and to have been dropped on the city during a German air raid, Xinhua reported.

The EOD team and emergency services evacuated up to 1,000 people from their homes and to set up a 300 metre wide exclusion zone.

Bomb disposals units created a barrier made up of 250 tonnes of sand before defusing the bomb, which was 1.42 metres long and packed with high explosive.

On Saturday morning the device was removed to a remote location where it was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Bath is an ancient and historic town, having been founded in the Roman era because of its natural hot water springs. It became a fashionable centre for the aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries and as a result it has an outstanding stock of beautiful buildings.

During the Second World War, the German Luftwaffe undertook a series of air raids on English cities, which were chosen as targets for their historic significance and artistic beauty.