Rotherham Cannon Heritage Society

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...

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...