A Cannon for Kingswear      

David Evans

When Neville Oldham was with us in the Village Hall for his fascinating talk “Pirate Gold”, he also told us during the after coffee discussion of his finding many years previously a group of nine iron cannons lying on the sea bed a short distance off shore from Kingswear Castle.  At that time he took no action concerning them apart from recording the find.  However, six years ago an enthusiastic local young diver, now no longer in the area, persuaded him to raise one of them and begin the lengthy desalination process to conserve it, initially in Dartmouth but subsequently at the farm of a friend at Cornworthy.

The cannon weighs 1.5 tons, s 7’4’’ in length and has an 8” muzzle.  

It was only while turning over the cannon during the move to Cornworthy that the date 1577 was found to be etched on the barrel.  It cannot be certain that this is original but with the elegant style it points to it being an Elizabethan cannon. The other eight guns in the cluster, although covered with concretions, appear to be of similar size and shape and how they came to be on the sea bed remains a puzzle still to be solved. It was thought initially that they may have been taken from nearby Kingswear Castle but their size and weight would seem to make this unlikely. It seems more probable that they are the result of a shipwreck or stranding on the rocky sea bed although no records or evidence of one have been found so far. 

Neville hopes to arrange to carry out a thorough archaeological survey of the sea bed and to continue searching local archives for evidence. With conservation nearly complete, he was anxious to find a good home for his “baby” and completed ownership formalities by registering it with the Receiver of Wrecks. His generous offer to donate it to Kingswear was accepted by the Parish Council on behalf of the Village with the Historians arranging for carrying forward the project. The Darthaven Marina kindly agreed that a wooden carriage for the cannon would be built by an apprentice on their staff and this is now in progress.  When fully completed, the cannon will be displayed in a prominent position facing out across to Dartmouth with an information board concerning its history and recording all those who have helped in bringing it to Kingswear.

Follow-up

Chairman:  David Williams     

The last Newsletter described the journey that the Kingswear cannon had travelled from Tudor times into the 21st century. An enormous amount of time, effort, cost and skill went into lifting the gun from the sea bed, through years of desalination to the loving restoration that is now so apparent. In a very fitting ceremony, the cannon, on its beautifully made carriage, was officially displayed to the public late in 2010. If you have not yet seen and admired it, take a walk in Jubilee Park at the Head of Waterhead Creek!