REAL artefacts from the battlefields of the First World War went on display at a special exhibition at Radnor Street Cemetery yesterday.

Previously unseen by the public, the objects included real grenades, rifle bayonets, and pieces of shrapnel - part of a collection of local war historian and author Mark Sutton, put on display by the Swindon Society.

Mark undertook extensive research on men from Swindon killed in the war between 1914 and 1918 for his book Tell Them of Us: Remembering Swindon's Sons of the Great War, and has a large collection of artefacts from field-walks in France.

Andy Binks, chairman of the Swindon Society, told the Adver: “These aren’t models, this is the real deal. The guns, bullets, shrapnel, rifles, were all used by the men who fought in the war.

“People can make a real connection to Swindon’s history in World War One.

“It’s fantastic to have the access to objects like this, to look at in close-up - this was a hands-on affair."