Our collection of artillery ranges from Mediaeval Bombards through to Cannon of the time of the Crimean War. 
Our early pieces dating to the late 14th century are Bombards, and we have both breach and muzzle loading varieties. One of these is a copy of the “Bodiam Bombard” a 112-pounder bombard that has a calibre of some 36 cm. This was the first Cannon that Colin remembers seeing as a young child, and so recreating it was defiantly a dream come true.

Our latest piece is a 15th Century ‘Monster’ Bombard, with a bore of 37.5 cm, and is capable of firing a gun-stone of some 175 pounds in weight.

We have Cannon of the Tudor period, the late 15th & early 16th centuries, our largest is a 64-pounder ship-killer or ‘Port Piece’, which is also known as a Veuglaire.  We also have two 50-pounders, as seen on the Mary Rose.  These guns, as well as several 20-pounder field guns are all breech loaders. The breach is the area of the gun that the gunpowder is contained in and is at the rear of the barrel 

Colin’s Bodiam Bombard, a childhood dream

In breach loaders, the chamber is removable, this is loaded with Blackpowder and placed back in the rear or breach, wedges are then used to hold it in place before firing.  This can make for an impressive display for both the camera and the public, as smoke and flame can sometimes escape from the breech as well as the muzzle, which is exciting at night.

The later Tudor & Stuart guns tended to be muzzleloaders. In this group we have a 5-pounder Minion Drake.  This smart black gun has quite a punch and is often used mounted on a ships carriage to demonstrate the power of the Navel gun against the walls of a timber war ship. Our 3-pounder Falcon is capable of throwing a ball in excess of a mile and a half and at shorter ranges can be deadly accurate. 

The Ribauldaquin is a nine-barrelled gun that can shoot up to 200 bullets in a single firing, and was the forerunner of the machine gun. This gun is spectacular when fired as you can hear a slight delay between each barrel going off which creates a ripple effect. 

The shield covering the touchhole area at the rear of the carriage also helps to shade the bright flame emitting from the touchholes. This all adds to the dramatic effect for both slow motion cameras and the viewer.

In order to demonstrate the power of 16th Century shipboard Artillery we have several 50-pounder, Port Piece cannons. These are powerful breech loading guns and very similar to those recovered from the ship, ‘The Mary Rose’.

To give a high angle of fire for both display and camera we have a Battery of thee mortars. The largest is a ‘Coehorn’ mortar with a calibre of 5 inches, a second has a bore of 2.5 inches, and the smallest a ‘French’ style Mortar has a bore of 2 inches. 

Right - our Coehorn Mortar