Part llA3 – United Kingdom

MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
UNITED KINGDOM
And corresponding Editor’s Albums
Consisting of:
The Tower of London
Rotunda Museum (Woolwich)
Including the new Firepower Museum
Windsor Castle Museum
Old Southampton Maritime Museum
Tudor House (Southampton)
Scotland
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Hill
Edinburgh National Museum of Antiquities
And notes on recent museums not visited by MLP
EDITOR’S ALBUM
LONDON
________________________________________________________________
ROYAL ARMOURIES
“THE KEEP”
HM TOWER OF LONDON
London —The Royal Armouries
MUSEUM AND FORT:
THE TOWER OF LONDON
ROYAL ARMOURIES, 2013 THE UNITED KINGDOM’S NATIONAL
MUSEUM OF ARMS AND ARMOURS (IN “THE KEEP” OR WHITE
TOWER)
Location:
Near Tower Bridge, on the left bank of the Thames.
Postal address:
Royal Armouries Museum – H.M. Tower of London –
London EC3N 4AB – U.K.
Telephone:
++44/203 166 66 60 / 44/113 220 19 99
Fax:
—
Email: [email protected]
Website:
www.armouries.org.uk
Curator:
Peter Armstrong (Museum Director)
Services offered:
The highly specialized “Royal Armouries Library” contains
over 30,000 books and pamphlets (many rare and antique),
10,000 journals and magazines, 6,000 auction catalogues, etc.
The picture library contains 70,000 prints and drawings,
paintings, early photographs, etc.
The archives contain records of the museum and its
collections.
The scientific personnel is outstandingly
competent and helpful.
Opening hours:
March to October: Tuesday to Saturday 9h-17h, Sunday
and Monday 10h-17h30.
November to February: Tuesday to Saturday 10h-16h30, Sunday and Monday
10h-16h30.
Recent catalogues and publications on the history of the building and its collections
include:
The Tower of London, Ministry of Public Buildings and
Works Guide Book, HMSO, 1967 (and other editions);
Charlton, John, The Tower of London: Its Buildings and
Institutions, HMSO, 1977; Impey Edward and Parnell
Geoffrey, The Tower of London: The official illustrated
History, London, 2000; Lapper Ivan and Parnell Geoffrey,
The Tower of London, a 2000 year history, Osprey, London,
2000; Humphreys, Julian, The Private Life of Palaces,
Historic Royal Palaces, 2006; Jersome, Fiona, Tales from the
Tower, Historic Palaces, 2006; Impey, Edward (ed), The
White Tower, Yale University Press, 2008; Dolman, Brett et
al, Experience the Tower of London, Souvenir Guide Book,
Historic Royal Palaces, 2010.
History of the building:
“This Tower is a citadel to defend or command the city; a
royal palace for assemblies and treatises; a prison of state for
the most dangerous offenders… the only place of coinage for
all England at this time; the Armoury for war like provisions,
the Treasury of the ornaments and jewels of the Crown…”
So wrote John Stow in 1598 in his “Survey of London”.
London —The Royal Armouries
“To defend or command the city”: This was the purpose of
the castellum built by the Roman army that emperor Claudius
I sent to Britannia in the 1st century after he had invaded the
country and was determined both to impose his rule on the
native inhabitants of Lundinum, his creation, and to protect
the city against a possible attack coming from the river.
“To defend and command the city” was again the purpose of
William the Conqueror (1066-1087). For the history of the
Tower of London begins in 1066, right after William had
invaded and defeated, the English under King Harold at the
Battle of Hastings. Soon afterwards, the city of London had
sent a peace delegation to offer submission and the first thing
the conqueror did was to send an advanced guard to London
to construct a fortified camp and prepare for his triumphal
entry. Immediately after his coronation in Westminster
Abbey on Christmas day 1066, the new king ordered several
palisaded strongholds to be built in the city. One of them was
built in the south-east corner of the Roman city walls on the
site of the future Tower of London. Soon afterwards again
(1070-1075) the construction of a huge square, stone tower
began, it was to be the largest, most immpressive stone
building ever seen in England, to serve as a loud
proclamation of the conqueror’s power. At the time it was
protected by Roman walls on two sides, by ditches to the
north and by a wooden stockade atop an earthwork to the
west.
The story of the construction of the fortress, then, becomes
repetitive: Stronger and stronger, larger and larger. Its
Norman part, the original central keep, the fortress that is
now called “The Tower of London”, was encircled by two
towered curtain walls and a great mound (1285). The keep
had been called “The White Tower” since 1240 when it was
completely coated in whitewash by order of Henry III. The
whitewash did not last but the name stuck. Then, the great
wharf was added by Edward III and completed under Richard
II. From then on, all the successive monarchs of Great
Britain that is all thirty-one of them (of six successive
dynasties) continued to carefully maintain and reinforce the
Tower, which was a symbol of their royal power over the city
and also a refuge for the king and his key men in troubled
times (of which there was no shortage).
For centuries, the Tower, by controlling the main wharf that
had been built at its very foot, controlled the commerce with
the outside world, and therefore the whole economy of
London.
In the 15th century, cannons were being cast on the wharf and
the Tower has been associated with the history of ordnance
ever since. It expanded into the headquarters of the Office of
London —The Royal Armouries
Ordnance, which provided military supplies and equipment to
the Army and the Navy.
“A citadel to defend or command the city”. In fact, in
retrospect, the greatest threat to the Tower always came from
the city and not from the river. Indeed, the numerous sieges
laid to the Tower in the later Middle-Ages were supported by
the mayor of London and the city authorities and artillery fire
came from Tower Hill, just to the north. In consequence,
some of the most powerful bastions were built on the north
fortified walls of the citadel.
The Tower over the centuries was a busy prison and a place
for public executions: About 102 people were executed
(beheaded), mostly royals, nobles or gentlemen, three English
queens included, occasionally for assassinations by “raison
d’état” or for dynastic reasons.
History of the collections: It is not the cannons that attract two and a half million
visitors a year to the Tower of London. It is the three Tudor
Queens beheaded, the tortured prisoners, the rooms of the
medieval palaces recreated with replica medieval beds, the
armours and weaponry, and the Crown jewels (the modern,
real ones, the old ones, having been broken and “defaced”
and the gold and silver melted down into coinage by order of
Cromwell, whilst the precious stones were sold). This, not
forgetting the uniform of the Yeomen of the Guard (two are
on permanent duty) and of course, the ravens.
All that is not to delay the ordnance connoisseur on his way
to the lawns, mostly south and east of the “White Tower”
where most of the not so important cannons, mortars and
howitzers are now exhibited in the open air. These guns date
mostly of the 18th and 19th century. There are also, outside,
three exceptional, astonishing oriental cannons of huge
proportions (war trophies or gifts).
The finest part of the collection, which consists of a display
of 17th and 18th century artillery, will be found inside of the
“White Tower”, in the basement (reached through the great
spiral staircase that links all flours of the keep). It must be
noted that, interesting as it is, this part of the collection is
only a selection of the much wider group of ordnance pieces
that could be seen and recorded by Mendel Peterson in his
days in the 1970s. Once more, this contributes to making the
Tower of London “large green albums” of Mendel Peterson
irreplaceable historic documents that add significantly to the
importance of the scientific legacy he has left.
As the knowledgeable visitor will personally experience, no
guns anywhere could be exhibited in their natural context
better than those. The first guns in England were presumably
kept under the responsibility of the then “Keeper of the Privy
Wardrobe of the Tower”. At some time during the 15th
London —The Royal Armouries
century, the Privy Wardrobe of the Tower disappeared and
seems to have been replaced by a “Master of Ordnance” and
a “Keeper of the King’s Armours”. The Armoury did
concentrate on armours properly said and on edged weapons.
The Ordnance Office, as it would be named later, cared for
artillery in the widest sense possible, being anything that can
shoot projectiles, and therefore encompassing bow and
arrow, cross-bows, hand guns and cannons, mortars, etc. As
the art of war evolved, the Ordnance became the more
important of the two organisations and in 1670 the Office of
Armoury was absorbed by the Ordnance Office.
The Royal Armouries have been a museum of sorts for half a
millennium. There are records of a paying visitor to the
Armouries in 1545 (a visiting foreign dignitary, who had
requested to view the personal armoury of Henry VIII).
Permanent or almost permanent public displays date from the
restauration of King Charles II in 1660. They were
originally organized along the themes of “The Lines of
Kings” and “The Spanish Armoury”. The Line of Kings was
in fact a row of figures representing the kings of England
riding life-size wooden horses and wearing their so-called
personal armour.
The Spanish Armoury was a fake
collection of grisly, frightening looking weapons and torture
instruments supposedly taken from the wrecked ships of the
Spanish Armada of 1588. (The torture instruments were
destined by King Philip to put to death as many Protestants
as possible. None of these weapons and instruments was
genuine or even of Spanish origin.)
With its collection consisting today of some 70,000
examples of armours, arms and artillery pieces, dating from
the Antiquity to yesterday, the Royal Armouries (present
official name: “The United Kingdom’s National Museum of
Arms and Armours”) is not only Great Britain’s oldest
museum, it also keeps one of the largest collections of arms
and armours in the world (not all of which is presently on
display). The collection incorporates the former “UK’s
National Collection of Arms and Armours”, “The National
Artillery Collection” and “The National Firearms
Collections”. The Royal Armoury in the “Keep”, the “White
Tower”, has always been the main royal and national arsenal
and as it was also the national repository for all trophies
and/or remarkable cannons or weapons captured in wars at
sea or in foreign lands, it came to attract the attention of
visitors and it became a de facto museum as mentioned
earlier.
In recent years, as the museum collections are continuing to
expand through centralisation, gifts and purchases, the Tower
has become too small to house and display its treasures, so
that the Royal Armouries have expanded far from London.
London —The Royal Armouries
Part of the collections has been moved to Fort Nelson, a
fortress, in fact part of a fortification protecting the great
naval harbour of Portsmouth (Hampshire) and its royal
dockyards (at the time French invasions were feared). Royal
Armouries, Fort Nelson, covers 19 acres and displays today,
2013, 350 big guns and historic cannons.
For the same purposes, a new museum has been established
in 1990 in the north of England. It is the Royal Armouries in
Leeds, West Yorkshire, which has been purposely built to be
“a 21st century museum”. Finally, the Royal Armouries have
opened their newest museum in the United States of
America, in the year 2004, in collaboration with the Frazier
International History Museum. It is described as “the first
cultural art institution in the world, dedicated to telling the
complete American story, including its British and European
roots”. It is also the first time a UK national museum opened
a branch in the US. The name is “The Royal Armouries
Louisville Kentucky” (USA).
The “Castrum Royale Londinense” on an engraving by Hollar (2nd half of the 17th
century.
2013
MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
WOOLWICH
ROTUNDA MUSEUM
No longer exists and now replaced on the same Woolwich grounds
with the FIREPOWER MUSEUM
The new Firepower Museum is described following in a special Editor’s Album
Woolwich — The Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda
MUSEUM:
Museum of Artillery (in the rotunda) – no longer exists.
Catalogues and publications on the history of the building and its collections
include:
Lefroy, J.H. Brigadier General, Official Catalogue of the
Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda, Woolwich, HMSO, 1864
(and 1906); Catalogue of the Museum of Artillery in the
Rotunda, HMSO, 1963 (and other editions); Guide to the
Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda, Woolwich, London, s.d.
History of the building: See under ‘Firepower’, Woolwich.
History of the museum and its collections: See under ‘Firepower’, Woolwich
Rotunda Museum circa 1840.
EDITOR’S ALBUM
WOOLWICH
________________________________________________________________
INCLUDING
ROTUNDA MUSEUM, (NO LONGER EXISTS)
FIREPOWER MUSEUM (NEW)
Woolwich — Firepower Royal Artillery Museum
MUSEUM AND ROYAL ARSENAL:
FIREPOWER – THE ROYAL ARTILLERY MUSEUM, WOOLWICH
(SUCCESSOR, SINCE THE YEAR 2001, TO THE MUSEUM OF
ARTILLERY, THE ROTUNDA)
Location:
Postal address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:
Website:
Curator:
Contact person:
East of central London, on the grounds of the historic
Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, on the south (right) bank of
the Thames. Not far from Greenwich and its remarkable
National Maritime Museum.
The Royal Artillery Museum – Royal Arsenal –
Woolwich SE18 6ST – England – UK.
++44/208 855 77 55
++44/208 855 71 00
[email protected]
www.firepower.org.uk
General Sir Alex Harley, KBE CB.
The Historical Secretary at the museum: Tel. ++44/208
855 77 55
Services offered:
The museum has an extremely rich library and extensive
archives. It contains more than 25,000 books, mostly on
military history, including many rare early handbooks on
shooting ordnance or casting guns, as well as scientific and
technical works on the subject of artillery, biographies of
military figures, etc. The archives are of a similar size to the
library, they include documents, diaries, sketch books, cadets
notebooks, handbooks, photographs and drawings, training
pamphlets, maps, etc. There is also the complete series of the
proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution, etc. All the
material is accessible to researchers, who have only to apply
in writing to the Historical Secretary at the museum to make
an appointment.
Opening hours:
Wednesday to Sunday: 10h30-17h. Closed on Mondays
and Tuesdays.
Open on Bank holidays, except
Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Recent catalogues and publications on the history of the building and its collections
include:
See “Museum of Artillery the Rotunda”.
Otherwise:
Firepower, A Souvenir Guide, very instructive, well done and
well-illustrated (available from the museum).
History of the building:
Firepower is based in the Farndale Building. (General Sir
Martin Farndale was instrumental in organising the transfer
of the museum from the Rotunda to its present location from
1988 on.)
Woolwich — Firepower Royal Artillery Museum
History of the museum and its collections: The collections of Firepower consist
in part of the collections of the former Museum of
Artillery in the Rotunda that had been erected in 1820.
The collection however had its origin in the Royal
Arsenal where it has recently returned, when Captain
(later Lieutenant General Sir William) Congreve R.A.
began to have scrupulously exact models of ordnance
pieces made (by the very people who were making the
real brass guns) for his museum. It is his son, Captain
Congreve, who actually opened the first museum in the
Warren, a part known by this name in the commons of
Woolwich, in the grounds of the first repository and a
place where guns could be stored and man handled, later
to be called the Royal Arsenal. This first small museum
was gutted by fire in May 1802 and most of the
collection destroyed. A new museum was inaugurated
in 1805, nearby, where it remained until 1819, when it
moved, the collections having enormously grown, to the
Rotunda in 1820.
Background: Rotunda Museum (no longer exists), predecessor of the Firepower Museum.
MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
UNITED KINGDOM
WINDSOR CASTLE
London — Windsor Castle
CASTLE/MUSEUM:
WINDSOR CASTLE
Location:
Postal address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:
Website:
Curator for artillery:
Contact person:
Services offered:
Opening hours:
West of London, on a hill high above the river Thames.
Windsor Castle — Windsor — Berkshire — England – U.K.
++44/ (0)20 7766 7334
—
—
www.royalcollection.org.uk
Simon Metcalf, Esq. (Queen’s Armourer);
[email protected]
Rufus Bird (Deputy Surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art);
[email protected]
A library and a picture library
([email protected])
January to February: Every day 9h45-16h15.
March to October: Every day 9.45-17h15.
November to December: Every day 9H45-16h15.
Closed 25-26 December
Recent catalogues and publications on the history of the building and its collections
include:
Mardsen J. and Winterbottom M., Windsor Castle, Official
Souvenir Guide, Royal Collections Publications, London,
2010; Roberts Hugh et al., 100 Treasures of Windsor Castle,
Royal Collection Publications, London, 2008, very well
documented and beautifully illustrated but concerns only the
artistically and historically finest artefacts, cannons not
qualifying; Wagstaff Caroline, Windsor, Fun, Facts, History
and Legend, London, 2009, an amusing, popular publication,
no interest for the artillery specialist; Robinson John Martin,
Windsor Castle, The Official Illustrated History, Royal
Collections Publications, London, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
None of these, or other publications available, makes the
slightest allusion to the existence, in and outside the castle, of
more than fifteen displayed pieces of ordnance, some of them
of great interest.
History of the building:
The site for Windsor Castle was chosen by William the
Conqueror (r. 1066-1087), who also established the general
plan and extension of the castle. One of a series of Norman
fortresses (and the only one still surviving), the castle was
originally aimed to secure the western approach to London.
The building was started in 1070 and the construction lasted
for 16 years. It was first walled in timber but in the late 12th
century Henry II (r. 1216-1272) began to replace the outer
fortification in stone. The easy access to the castle from the
capital and its proximity to a hunting forest recommended it
early as a royal residence. The building has undergone
several transformations phases and improvements during its
London — Windsor Castle
remarkably long history. Edward III (r. 1327-1377) started
first to transform the military fortification into a Gothic
palace and the work was continued by his successors. The
14th century apartments survived unchanged until the 17th
century. Then, King Charles II (r. 1660-1685) appointed
architect Hugh May to proceed to the modernisation of the
Royal Apartments, which became the grandest baroque State
Apartments in England. More works were started at the end
of the 18th century, under King George III (r.1760-1820), who
appointed James Wyatt in order to transform the exterior of
the building into a Gothic palace, while maintaining the
character of the inside spaces, and were continued by George
IV (r. 1820-1830) and Sir Charles Long (his artistic advisor).
Towers and battlements were created, as well as a “Waterloo
Chamber” (celebrating the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in
1815), and the castle was refurnished with French Empire
style new furniture. More small additions were made under
Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901), including the Queen’s private
chapel, from which started the fire that destroyed part of the
castle in 1992. Repairing works and restoration began
immediately. The most damaged areas, such as St. George’s
Hall, were redesigned in a modern Gothic style, while the
other areas were restored in the style George IV had left them
in. The work of the Restoration Committee, chaired by the
Duke of Edinburgh, ended in 1997. The castle today is one
of the official residences of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
and occupies a surface of 10.5 hectares; it is the oldest and
largest inhabited castle in the world.
History of the museum and its collections: In 1848, Queen Victoria decided that the
State Apartments should be regularly opened to the public.
She also used to receive numerous artists and sculptors.
Prince Albert then reorganised the Royal Library and created
the “Print Room”, classifying and re-ordering its rich
collections of drawings assembled over the past five hundred
years. It includes major works by Holbein, Michelangelo,
Raphael, Canaletto, Parmigiano, Guercino and a collection of
600 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. Besides the antique
furniture and 18th century tapestries and bronzes that King
George IV had started to acquire in France for the castle and
a collection of Italian Renaissance paintings, portraits, etc.,
many treasures are held in Windsor Castle.
The “Grand Staircase” on the other hand displays trophies of
arms and armours; the “Grand Vestibule” holds an important
and disparate group of arms and relics (including the musket
ball that killed Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in
1805). The “Queen’s Guard Chamber” displays more arms
and armours of the 17th to 19th centuries, while the armoured
figure of the King’s champion on horseback, wearing a 16th
London — Windsor Castle
century suit of armour, dominates the east end of “St.
George’s Hall”. As for the famous Henry VIII’s armour
(made in Greenwich around 1540), it stands in the “Lantern
Lobby”, a room created after the 1992 fire.
To the ancient artillery connoisseur, the most interesting part
of the visit will be the various terraces of the castle, in which
a number of interesting guns are displayed, each with a
summary notice. The State Apartments on the other hand (in
which photographs are strictly prohibited and the interdiction
strictly enforced) contain a small number of highly
interesting pieces. These include:
- Two small bronze guns on their original, ancient carriage.
- One small bronze, oriental breech-loading gun. Length
1m., calibre 2in. It was cast in the 18th century and was
brought back from India, as a war trophy.
- One uncommon steel gun, very thin. Length: c. 1.50m,
calibre 1.5in. It is mounted on a strange tripod.
- German robinet of the 16th or 17th century, a 3/4-pounder,
which surprisingly for the period, is rifled. It bears no
marks or inscription. The carriage appears to be original.
EDITOR’S ALBUM
LONDON
________________________________________________________________
WINDSOR CASTLE
MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
UNITED KINGDOM
SOUTHAMPTON
SOUTHAMPTON MARITIME MUSEUM
MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
UNITED KINGDOM
SOUTHAMPTON
TUDOR HOUSE MUSEUM
MENDEL L. PETERSON LGA
UNITED KINGDOM
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Hill
Edinburgh National Museum of Antiquities
OTHER MUSEUMS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
________________________________________________________________
Not visited by Mendel L. Peterson
LONDON:
NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM
*
PORTSMOUTH:
MARY ROSE MUSEUM (RECENTLY INAUGURATED)
HMS VICTORY
FORT NELSON MUSEUM
PORTMSOUTH MARITIME MUSEUM
*
SOUTHAMPTON:
NEW SOUTHAMPTON MARITIME MUSEUM
EDITOR’S ALBUM
LONDON
________________________________________________________________
NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM
London — National Army Museum
MUSEUM:
NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM
Location:
Postal address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Email:
Website:
Curator for artillery:
Contact person:
Services offered:
Opening hours:
Close to the Thames and Sloane Square Tube station or
Victoria Station.
Royal Hospital Road — Chelsea — London SW3 4HT —
U.K.
++44/20 7881 2455 (information line)
++44/20 7823 6573
[email protected]
www.national-army-museum.ac.uk
Gill Brewer (Head of the Department Weapons, Equipment
and
Vehicles);
[email protected];
department e-mail: [email protected]
Switch Board: ++44/20 7730 0717
A Museum shop and Online Store for military history books
family learning activities, toys and clothes. The National
Army Museums possesses a comprehensive range of
specialist publications about a vast range of military topics.
A research centre, the “Templer Study”, with archives,
photographs, prints, drawings and regimental and campaign
histories is freely accessible to readers (after registration).
Every day 10h-17h30, except 24-26 December, 1 January,
Good Friday, early May bank holiday.
Recent catalogues and publications on the history of the building and its collections
include:
For the time being, very little.
History of the building:
A modern, 20th century building, well adapted to its function
and purposes.
History of the museum and its collections: The “Weapons, Equipment and Vehicles”
department displays a collection of weapons of the British
and Commonwealth soldiers from the age of the longbow to
the present day. This collection consists of 2,500 edged
weapons, 200 pole-arms, 1,850 firearms, 7,000 items of
personal equipment, scientific tools, musical instruments,
armour and horse furniture, models and dioramas, 200
vehicles, tanks, armoured cars and, a small number of
artillery pieces, including a bronze Tudor cannon and various
pieces of ordnance cast in India for the East India Company
(rather uncommon in European collections).
UK — The Newly Opened Museums
THE NEW OR RECENTLY REOPENED MILITARY OR NAVAL MUSEUMS
We have mentioned already, in the pages concerning the Tower of London and the
Royal Armouries collections, a number of recently opened museums, all of which are
certainly worth a special visit by any artillery history enthusiast who visits the UK.
There are other museums also, which, as the ones above, have not been visited by MLP
and about which, consequently, there are no Large Green Albums and no Editor’s
Albums.
Very briefly, the most important pieces of artillery which are exhibited in these various
new museums are described hereafter.
In the North of England:
ROYAL ARMOURIES IN LEEDS (West Yorkshire).
This museum was opened in 1990 at the initiative of the Royal Armouries in London (in
the Tower). This very modern, “21st-century museum”, displays a representative
collection of artillery pieces taken from the reserves of the Tower of London.
In the South of England:
ROYAL ARMOURIES MUSEUM IN FORT NELSON
The Royal Armouries, London, as part of their expansion programme, has sent to Fort
Nelson (a fortress covering 19 acres) which used to be part of the fortification protecting
the great naval harbour of Portsmouth in Hampshire) another collection from the
Tower’s reserves. These new historic cannons from London have considerably
expanded, chronologically, the original collection of fortress pieces of the Fort (350 big
guns displayed. The original pieces of Victorian times have been now mounted again in
their correct, original firing positions.
This museum collection includes (2013) a total of nearly 3,000 artillery related objects.
The collection shows the development of artillery from gun powder machines to modern
day super guns. The collection of Fort Nelson includes now, amongst the pieces
received from London, some remarkable ancient guns, such as:
- Huge bronze Turkish gun dated 1464 (the oldest piece in the museum). Calibre: 25in,
Weight: 17tonnes, shooting stone balls of 5cwt. It was originally cast for the Sultan of
Turkey Mahomed II and was part, for centuries, of the batteries defending the
Dardanelles. It was cast in two parts for easier transport and then screwed together for
use.
- Fine bronze saker cast during the reign of Elizabeth I, about 1601.
- The so-called “Furies’ gun”, a lavishly decorated bronze cannon, a 2-pounder cast by
Alberghetti in 1773, carved with two furies grasping torches (with its original carriage).
- Burmese bronze cannon in the form of a dragon, dating from 1790.
- “Bronze Licorne”, a Russian cannon dating from 1793.
- “L’Avocat”, a bronze 6-pounder field gun of 1813, captured by the British soldiers at
the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
- Etc.
UK — The Newly Opened Museums
NEW MARY ROSE MUSEUM
In Portsmouth also, the new Mary Rose Museum has reopened its doors in May 2013.
It replaces the former museum opened in 1984 and closed in 2009 for the erection of a
new building. This new building had been built over the remaining parts of the Henry
VIII warship MARY ROSE in the dry dock. The wreck (or the remaining part of its
starboard lower hull, which has been protected by the mud) is still being sprayed with
polyethylene glycol for conservation in its “hot box”, that will be removed when the
complete conservation process is finished, i.e. when the timber proves to be completely
dry, probably around 2016.
The Tudor warship MARY ROSE, a 600 tonnes four-masted carrack, built in
Portsmouth from 1509 to 1511, was armed with 91 guns at the time she sank (1545),
after capsizing close to the entrance to Portsmouth harbour. Some of the cannons were
recovered at the time, others in 1836 by the famous diver and inventor John Deane, the
rest when the wreck itself was recovered (it was raised from the sea bottom in 1982), at
the initiative of the English historian and diver Alexander McKee and the “Mary Rose
Trust”. Tudor guns are rare and the ones recovered from the MARY ROSE, with their
exceptional pedigree, are of the highest interest. They include a number of wroughtiron bombards, breech-loaders, long and short, and, among the bronze guns, a 60pounder cannon royal, superbly decorated and a 32-pounder demi-cannon.
HMS VICTORY
Also in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, in Dry Dock n°2, next to the Mary Rose
Museum is the actual HMS VICTORY. The VICTORY, 3,556tonnes, launched in
1756, will be ever famous for having been the flagship of Admiral Nelson, including at
the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805. She was retired from front line duty and anchored in
Portsmouth Harbour in 1812 and brought later to the Royal Naval Dockyard to be
placed in n°2 Dry Dock where she still is and, one hopes, will remain for ever.
A museum in itself, the ship is now returned to her fighting 1805 condition, including
her armament at the time. At the Battle of Trafalgar, she carried a total of 104 bronze
guns, being:
- Thirty 32-pounders on the lower gun deck,
- Twenty-eight 24-pounders on the middle gun deck,
- Thirty long 12-pounders on the upper gun deck,
- Twelve short 12-pounders on the quarter gun deck,
- Two medium 12-pounders and two 60-pounder carronades on the forecastle.
All these cannons are on display today at their correct place and “ready to fire”.
Additionally, twelve Napoleonic iron guns are also on display on board the VICTORY.
They are nine 32-pounders and three 24-pounders on show on the lower gun deck.
These pieces were not on board at Trafalgar, but they are there because they were part
of the armament of the ship in later years, from 1808 on. They are of the Blomefield
pattern.
Additionally, twenty-one more cannons can be seen on the dockside around the
VICTORY (short barrelled 32-pounders cast under the reign of George III). They were
formerly the saluting battery of the ship when moored in Portsmouth.
UK — The Newly Opened Museums
Of great interest also are the reconstituted gun room, the two magazines on the orlop
deck holding the gun powder cartridges, the shot lockers in the hold (for 80 tonnes of
ammunition) and the main gunpowder storage area (for 35 tonnes of powder).