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{{Template:Origin|text=This article describes some famous artillery pieces with connections to the era of the British in India. See also article [[British Guns in Burma]].<br>The information and images have been provided by Elizabeth Hancox, a FIBIS member with a special interest in artillery, and acknowledged expert on gunsthe [http://www.angloburmeselibrary.com/ Anglo-Burmese Library].}} [[Image:0001 Woolwich Barracks.jpg|600px|thumb|left|The Barracks of the Royal Arsenal Woolwich]]<div style="clear:both"></div>

Named '''‘’’"The Father of Victory"''' this gun, captured during the [[Siege of Bhurtpore 1826|Siege of Bhurtpore]] in 1826, stands stood for many years outside the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Artillery_Barracks Royal Artillery Barracks] at Woolwich. It is 16ft 4ins long and weighs about 17.5 tons; the calibre is 8ins. Tradition has maintained that precious metals were included in its composition; but analysis of metal taken from three places dispelled this idea. The metal is variable; it contains 9% to 15% lead, with traces of arsenic and antimony; the other components are 3% to 5% of tin, and the remainder copper. It is remarkable, however, that the exterior of the breech is of a totally different metal from the body of the gun, being in fact brass, containing nearly 37% of zinc, and has been cast over the body of the gun subsequently to the first completion of it, as one of the ornamental scrolls is partly covered by it.

<gallery caption= widths="300px250px" heights="300px250px" perrow="3">Image:0010 Tiger howitzer.jpg|Tiger howitzerImage:0009 Tiger howitzer.jpg|Tiger howitzerImage:0010a Tipu artillery.jpg|Capture of Seringapatam showing one of Tipu Sultan's Tiger guns

Produced by the East India Company’s gun foundry at [[Cossipore]] near Calcutta. This cannon was one of a set intended for presentation to Maharaja [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranjit_Singh Maharaja Ranjit Singh]] by George Eden, Lord Auckland, and Governor General, on the conclusion of treaty negotiations in 1838. The guns were presented with 200 rounds of shot and shell intended for a planned Anglo-Sikh invasion of Afghanistan.

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Transferred from the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich 1968. This gun together with a similar one now in the Rotunda Museum Woolwich which may have formed part of another gift, is similar in form and decoration to the above but bears the name D PREGRAVE . Presgrave and is dated 1839 (its companion at Woolwich is illustrated as fig, 85 in ‘plans of ordnance captured by the Army of the Sutledge during the campaign of 1845-46’. Drawn by Capt Ralph Smyth, Bengal Artillery.n.d)

=== Bronze Tiger Mortar ===

The muzzle, trunnion ends and cascable button are formed as ‘tigers heads’. Two tigers stripes appear on the chase and the reinforce rings are edged with engrailed bands in relief. The gun is unfinished, the vent has never been drilled, a cartouche on the second reinforce intended for inscription is blank, and a lump of metal below the cascable button intended to provide a fixing for an elevating screw has never been pieced pierced for the securing bolt.

[[Image:0046 Belvoir gun.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Gun at Photo courtesy of Belvoir Castle]]

== Background to the Casting of Iron Guns in the Weald of Sussex == ''See you the dimpled track that runs all hollow through the wheat?''<br /> ''Oh, that was where they hauled the guns that smote King Philip's fleet.''<br /> from 'PUCK'S SONG' by Rudyard Kipling<br /> As the population of England doubled between 1520 and 1620 more tradespeople connected with the iron industry moved into Waldron. For 150 years the Sussex Weald, known to the Romans as the Forest of Anderida, was possibly the foremost industrial area in the country. Blast furnace techniques using water-powered bellows to heat the iron ore had been imported from France and the high temperatures obtained allowed molten ore to be poured into moulds. From 1540 the first English cannon were cast in wealden furnaces. This freed the Royal Navy from dependence on foreign guns. Most of the ordnance produced had to be dragged on rough and muddy tracks on sleds or special carts drawn by teams of oxen to small coastal ports from whence they would be transported by sea to the naval dockyards at Portsmouth or Chatham. It could take over a year to cast and deliver guns, allowing for several months for a newly fired furnace to reach 'full blast'.<br /> Waldron furnace, constructed at Furnace Farm, was in operation by 1560 and remained in business for some 200 years, producing first cannonballs and iron bars ready for the forge (known as pig-iron) but by the 18th century, cannon. The water wheel powering the furnace bellows was driven by a pond fed by the millstream, and the large pond, or dam, can still be seen.<br /> <gallery caption= widths="300px350px" heights="300px350px" perrow="32">File:0075-Furnace-House-Waldern.jpg|'''Furnace Farm, Waldron.''' This was the site of Harrison's Foundry and Furnace. Gun trunnions were marked with a 'W'.File:0076-Large-furnace-pond.jpg|'''Large furnace pond in front of the house'''</gallery> <gallery caption= widths="350px" heights="350px" perrow="2">ImageFile:0049 Moulmein Mon Museum0077-Cannon-proving-bank.jpg|'''Cannon proving bank'''. Many cannon balls have been found at the foot of the bank by metal detectors. There was an older proving bank in a nearby wood.ImageFile:0050 Moulmein0078-Upstream-from-boring-mill.jpg|'''Site of the Boring Mill upstream.''' There are 20 tons or so of iron borings in the stream at the Boring Mill site. In the photo: Douglas Anderson, wheelwright, and Peter Davies, retired civil servant and assistant to landowner Peter Reed. Mr Davies has a special interest in muzzle loading guns such as Brown Bess.</gallery> ImageMost landowners, particularly the Fullers, had interests in iron founding and they managed their woodland as coppice to produce the enormous amounts of charcoal needed for the blast furnaces. It has been estimated that between four and five thousand acres of coppice was needed to keep each forge and furnace combination in continuous use.<br /> The Fuller's forge at Old Heathfield was built in 1693 and lasted about a hundred years. The site is very large and has a huge man-made 'proving' bank at the base of which many cannonballs have been found. It also had a small quarry for test firing cannon and two boring mills on the stream. As at Waldron, these streams still run red with iron oxide from the massive deposits of congealed borings left in the stream beds. <br /> The Fullers also employed a Master Wheelwright among other highly skilled craftsmen, and interestingly there is still a fully-functioning wheelwright's shop on the site today, operated by Douglas Andrews, who has himself constructed a new gun-carriage for an Islamic trophy gun ordered by the Colonel of the Royal Engineers.<br /> The Fuller's forge and foundry was constructed on a particularly difficult site. If it rained too much the site would flood and if it was too dry there was a lack of fast-flowing water in the stream to generate power. In a reply dated 17th October 1754 to the Prince of San Severino, who was pressing for a firm delivery date for some guns he had ordered, John Fuller wrote:0051 Moulmein''my furnace is a fickle mistress and must be humoured, her favours are not to be depended upon''.  == The Manufacture of Gunpowder == ''''To understand guns you must understand gunpowder' -detail Adrian B. Caruana'''<br /> [[File:Production of gunpowder.jpg|750px|left|]]<div style="clear:both"></div> Sanitary arrangements were still primitive in the reign of Henry Vlll and latrines were dug out at night by dung farmers and scavengers, but in the reign of Elizabeth l they were superseded by officials dignified by the name of Royal Saltpetre Men, who collected excrement specifically for the making of gunpowder. This was manufactured using a formula of 75 parts saltpetre, 15 parts carbon (charcoal) and 10 parts sulphur, or brimstone as it was once called. This last name is very evocative as the bright yellow sulphur was indeed collected in lumps from the brims of volcanoes in extremely hazardous conditions. The first two materials produced the explosion and the third added ignition and consistency to the grains of black powder which was milled to the size of corn, hence the name 'corned' powder, as opposed to fine powder. Fine powder was needed to prime the cannons and was also used for small arms.<br /> <gallery caption= widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="3">File:0080 Weir.jpeg|WeirFile:0081 Millstone.jpeg|MillstoneFile:0082 Millstones.jpeg|MillstonesFile:0083 Remains of wharf.jpeg|Remains of wharfFile:0084 Mill.jpeg|MillFile:0085 Remains of Corning House and Mixing House.jpeg|Remains of Corning House and Mixing House

'''This smooth-bore cast iron The quantities of gunpowder loaded onto an 80 gun'''ship varied according to the theatre of war but would be about 288 barrels of cannon powder and 41 barrels of fine powder. Each barrel weighed 90lbs. Gunpowder was not used loose, but made up into cartridges, dated 1826 first of parchment and bearing later of special cartridge paper. The method of priming a cannon was as follows: The cartridge of gunpowder would be placed down the elaborate ‘Crown & P’ mark of George IVmuzzle, rammed home using a ramrod, wadded, signifying that and then the cannonball similarly. A sharp-pointed metal rod would be inserted into the vent to pierce the cartridge and the vent would then be filled up with fine powder. A portfire rod would be used to ignite the fine powder in the gun had passed proof vent. This in turn ignited the cartridge, the resultant heat causing the gases generated to speedily build up into an explosive power sufficient to propel the Royal Navy yards as fit and ready cannonball up the barrel towards the target at high speed. The optimum amount of gunpowder needed per cartridge for service, is a 32-pounder cannon would be 14lbs (1 stone). Any excess could cause such a massive build-up of gases in the barrel thereby risking the Blomefield pattern, named after Thomas Blomefield, Inspector destruction of Artillery at Woolwich between 1780 the cannon and 1822probably most of those attending upon it. It has <br /> The gunpowder mills at Chilworth near Guildford were founded by the characteristic breeching loop above East India Company in 1625. They were forced to leave their previous site near Woolwich because frequent explosive accidents caused havoc among the buttonlocal population. There were, typical of naval guns of this patterncourse, also carried by Nelson’s VICTORY accidents at TrafalgarChilworth but it was not a heavily populated area. On one occasion a spark from a workman's hobnailed boot striking on a stone path caused an explosion which killed six men. The loop had a mills used the fast-flowing Tillingbourne stream to power the heavy duty hawser passed through grinding stones of the incorporating process. There were many stages involved in the manufacture and thus itwas very labour-intensive. As far as the ingredients were concerned, lashing local alder trees provided the gun finest charcoal, sulphur was imported from Sicily, and saltpetre imported from India cost £45 per ton. A sufficient supply to last seven years in July 1752 cost £9,000. The discovery that saltpetre could be manufactured from earth gathered from dovecots, to which dung, urine and lime were added, meant that it could be collected locally. The 12th to 13th century chapel of St. Martha's built on a 600ft hill above the ship mill and half a mile distant, was considerably reduced by successive explosions, finally to prevent too much unpredictable recoil demolishing a heap of stones, and only rebuilt in 1850. A massive explosion later on split the mill walls open, shattered the glass in the windows of the mast ancient manor and occasionally demolishing members even severely damaged the village of Albury a short distance away, not to mention the deaths of the gun crew as wellworkmen and the terrible injuries caused by the volatile black powder, ignited by the slightest friction and spark. == Sources and advice obtained for research =='''People'''<br />*Mr Philip McGrath - Curator, Royal Armories, Fort Nelson.*Mr Derek Gurney - 'Explosion', Museum of Naval Firepower. *Mr Paul Evans - Formerly masts were padded at the base using ‘soft substance’ but this was never satisfactoryLibrarian, especially in the case Firepower Museum.*Mrs Bridget Clifford - Keeper of Records (South) Tower of very heavy cannonLondon.[[Image:0052 Victory*Mr David Brown - Wealden Iron Research Group.jpg|300px|right|thumb| A 32pr*Ms Zoe Edwards - Information and Local Studies Librarian, Hastings Library. on board *Mr Peter Reed, Farmer and owner of the site of the VICTORY]]Fullers furnace and foundry.*Mr Peter Davies, Assistant - special interest - smooth bore muzzle-loading small arms.*Mr Douglas Andrews - Wheelwright<br />

Below is a drawing and extract from ‘The story of the Gun’ Lt AW Wilson RA first published 1944:'''Books'''<blockquotebr /> ''‘The drawing shows a 32pr*The Age of the System 1715-1815 by Adrian B. on board Caruana*Arming the VICTORYFleet - U. Compare it with any piece of 200 years before and notice the similarityS. Elevation was still obtained by means of Navy Ordnance in the quoin or wedge, while the only advance on checking recoil Muzzle-Loading Era by means of ‘soft substance’ around the mast, seems to be that of anchoring the piece to the ship by a breeching passed through the eye of the cascable. Spencer Tucker*The number in the detachments for these guns was decided Wealden Iron Industry by allowing one man Jeremy Hutchinson, and his Dissertation for each 500lbs of metalM.A. - Brighton*The 32-pounder weighed 32 cwt (3,584 lbs) Arming and therefore had a crew Fitting of seven. It is interesting to consider that were we to use the same system today we should require a detachment English Ships of 70 for one War, 1600-1815 by Brian Lavery*Wealden Iron by Ernest Straker*Weale Manuscript*The Art of our modern heavy guns.’''Gunfounding by Carol de Beer</blockquote> *The Fuller Family Archive - Lewes Record Office*The gun at Moulmein is marked as 17-1-0Fullers of Waldron, Heathfield and Brightling by Alec Parks*Waldron, indicating a weight Portrait of 17cwt 1 qtr and 0lbs. Which is a much lighter weight that might be expected for an approximately 9ft longSussex Village by Susan Russell, 32-pounder cannon. This is indicative Rosalie Parker and Valerie Chidson*The History of a carronade. the Ironmongers Company by Elizabeth Glover*Walks into History by David Weller<br />

'''CarronadesLibraries''' were a revolutionary concept in naval gunnery<br />*Science Library, known by the sailors as ‘Smashers’. They were first produced at the Carron Ironworks at FalkirkImperial College, ScotlandLondon*Public Record Office, in 1770. They fired a 32lb. hollow shell filled with 500 musket balls. The idea was to approach enemy shipping from the rear Kew*India Office Library andRecords, aimed at the sternBritish Library, the shell would explode on impact causing a shower of bullets to fly along the decks towards the bow, killing as many enemy crew and troops as possible. The ultimate 18th century naval anti=personnel weapon!London