My contact dave harper as very kindly sent me over some more images of walker cannons,over in ontario.

This cannon a 32 pounder walker cannon. in murney redoubt kingston ontario.







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Just stumbled across this about a union jack that was at the battle of trafalgar,that  sold for  £384000 back in october 2009.
Amazing and this town made the cannons that were at trafalgar

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1221983/Only-surviving-Union-Jack-Battle-Trafalgar-sells-record-breaking-384-000.html

shh but I have borrowed the image of the flag,which even as musket and shrapnel holes and smells of gunpowder.




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My Canadian Contact Dave harper, has just sent  over this shot of  a walker cannon
with the distinctive W co on the trunnion.excellent stuff.
This cannon is in the fort of La citadelle in quebec.
Quebec was captured  by the british after using the lawrence river to launch its attack.
Navigating the River was made possible by the well known captain cook,that was and still is treacherous to navigate.



Just got a new picture from dave harper of the Walker cannons at quebec,at La citadelle.
Showing 3 w...
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Google Earth image of the location of the Walker works at Conisborough.
Above is Conisborough Castle with the River Don, that powered the walkers boring mill, and transported the cannons.
At some point I will have to have a shuftie and see if there is any evidence still on the ground.



This is a sketch of Abbeydale industrial hamlet.
Showing how the river as above at conisborough was diverted along a goit then into a mill pond.
The water wheel rotated in a trench allowing for a lot power from the w...
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Another famous ship the Trincomalee,that replaced the fuodroyant, is on display at the hartlepool heritage centre
The ship does have several Rotherham cannons on board.

http://www.destinationhartlepool.com/section_historic_quay.php

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I think everybody in England was taught this,at least while I was at school.
The truth is Nelson actually died while being held by his attendant/ valet Alexander scott.
Scott his buried in Ecclesfield church yard near sheffield,after unexpectedly dying, while visiting his daughter there.

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First picture of  a  Rotherham cannon from abroad  in St lucia Fort Rodney, near Gros Inlet on Rodney Bay.
Note W co on the trunnion.
Fort Rodney was named after Admiral  Rodney who was always at the front end of  any fighting.

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/history/naval-leaders/lord-george-rodney/




excellent picture courtesy chris harper

Another picture sent by chris harper, showing tne same cannon a 24 pounder on its replica gun carriage,at fort rodney,
clearly showing the touch hole,and sighting ma...
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A Couple of Nice picture of  Rotherham cannons on the thames embankment.




Below 32 pounder Walker cannon, weighing 3.5 Tons, the kids sitting on it gives the scale.




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Don scott tells me that firing the town hall cannon was at one point dicussed.



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I have just been given this list of names,by mark  barret from  the Nelson and his world  forum,of the crew who were from Rotherham,some of these might be related to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

The information comes from the muster books of the ships - which are still held at the National Archive.

This information has been put into a fantastic database called the Ayshford Trafalgar Roll.

Details of the Rotherham men are as follows:


Thomas Jephson : Landsman : Aged 23 : HMS Revenge
William Wild : Landsman : ...
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Still working on the exact location of the walker works,but one thing they all have  in common is they were next to the main river that flows through Rotherham, the Don.
This was used for powering machinery,among which of course was the boring tools,and other equipment.
And the other major need for the river was transporting the finished product to goole and then by sea to chatham and portsmouth.
Locations

Kilnhurst/thrybergh

Masboro street

Holmes Masboro

Burcroft at conisborough.

There is now nothin...
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Birminghams Nelson Monument,I think from around 1900,kindly sent to me by mark from the Nelson and his world forum,courtesy of Birmingham archives.
Point is, how  come Rotherham doesnt have any Nelson Monument with its connections?



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I visited the main walker House in Rotherham,that is now a museum yesterday for a look round,and to look at some cannon records,in the museum itself.
It was closed for the day so I just had a good look at the house itself,which was built with money made made from cannon making.There is a plaque  outside the house, with some of its history,but with no mention whatsoever of the Walkers and Rotherhams connection to cannon making which is barmy.
The former grounds of the house are now Clifton park....
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Another bit of information,concerning the Walkers.The artist william Turner, came to Rotherham and Sketched aspects of the Walker Cannon works,in 1797.
Just found  a copy of his sketch online .Here it is,on the left could be a boring  tool of some sort.


Another turner sketch,showing the main bridge and church.

Walkers ironworks dominated this part of the Town.





Another turner sketch with the walker ironworks, this Time at Conisborough.
Conisborough castle can be clearly seen up on the hill,with the...
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Background on 18^th century British gunfounding – based on mentions in :

Adrian Caruana “The History of English Sea Ordnance” volume 2 (Rotherfield 1997)

Brian Lavery “Carronades and Blomefield guns” in ‘British Naval Armaments’(London 1989)

 

Up to the early 18^th century, most British gun foundries were in the Weald of Kent; in 1717 there were ten gun furnaces operating. These furnaces cast guns from iron ore in loam moulds, set vertically, muzzle upwards, in casting pit...

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Rotherham and the Battle of Trafalgar

Rotherham was once the cannon making capital of Great Britain. In October 1970 an old cannon was rescued from a smuggler patrol ship on the sea bed off the North Devon coast. The cannon had been made in Rotherham almost two hundred years earlier. Made in Masborough, between 1771 and 1820, the cannon of the Samuel Walker Company were the pride of the British navy. Eighty of the cannon found on Nelson's flagship Victory were made by Sa...

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It turns out that the walkers did have boring and testing works in conisborough,so there might be remnants on the ground.
In particular cannons balls buried in the ground from test firings.
Fresh piece of informations on the boring mill at conisborough used by the walkers.
Some industries had been and gone by the middle of the 19^th century, one notable example was the Burcroft Boring Mill.  Built in 1779 by Samuel Walker, an Ironmaster from Rotherham.  The mill was used in the boring and ...
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