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Millport 'cannon' - update

by Charles Kelly 31 August

Just been doing some research on the buried 'cannon' and have unearthed some definitive information. It is a 150mm Schweres Feldhaubitze (heavy field howitzer) made sometime between 1902/1905 by Krupps. A howitzer was a  gun designed to fire shells at a high angle in a trajectory which dropped them directly in to enemy trenches.

This one has a very distinctive square section housing for the recoil mechanism situated below the barrel. The end is conical in shape and has clearly identifiable catches.

To see the full details, take a look at these pages on the Internet:

http://www.patriotfiles.com/forum/showthread.php?p=434111 full details

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29007475@N08/3761488812/ gun and crew in Vimy circa 1916

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29007475@N08/4048675866/  destroyed by dud shell 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9948354@N08/791042678/lightbox/

Hope this helps to clarify its origin. I know there has been some talk about possibly digging it up. Unfortunately as this was an early version of this gun it had wooden wheels and only the metal rims still exist and a look at the drawings shows the extent of what might be buried there.


31 August | 6:30:01

Sandy Morton says

Thanks Charles - very interesting. All we need to know now is where it was used and how it got to Millport? A wee bit more researching required?

28 September | 9:32:07

Alan MacMillan says

i am a bit confused. are you talking about the cannon which is half-buried into the seawall at west bay? i was always lead to believe that was one of the cannon from the revenue cutter royal george.  if this was a 20th century gun, then i have been somewhat misguided. please would explain to stop me being so perplexed  - thanks, alan

29 September | 4:25:19

Alistair Smith says

Alan, you,ll find more on the article on the second page of the "Memories" section.

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