TOPIC:

A photo which is in the 'Can You Help?' section of Malcolm Bull's Calderdale Companion.

'A postcard with the caption "Cannon at Wheatley Valley" - (probably) the Boer War cannon which stood on the lookout area at Shroggs Park in the 1930s. Does anyone know anything more about the cannon?'

Can anyone identify the two cannon and are they likely to be ABW-related? Shroggs Park is in Halifax.


www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk/ph429.html#31

I don't think they are Boer Krupp or Creusot guns.
They have a slight resemblance to the British howitzer, of which I attach photos - but I am afraid they are not the same. Could we have closer photos?
Rob

No, I don't recognise those as Boer War either.

I did think they might be replicas. Is the barrel plugged or is it solid?

If plugged, what would the barrel have been plugged with?

I wonder if they were older 19th century cannon that were given to the town of Halifax, rather than guns which had seen service in South Africa? I know of one town that received a dozen rifles which came from South Africa, but were cannon also given to towns and cities? At least three towns in the UK still have cannon from the Crimean War on public display, but I can't remember ever seeing any from the ABW.

Berenice
The gun in the background of your initial pic appears to have a cascabel in place of a breech-loading mechanism; a cascabel being usual on an ML gun. But I admit it is hard to see. The guns themselves do not appear to be of the ABW period. The wheels in particular are massive and quite unlike those on the 5" BL howitzer, for example.
Here in OZ, a number of guns sourced from the ABW are on display. There is a nice 15 Pdr at Ross, Tasmania and there is the 75mm Krupp standing sentinel on Sydney harbour. I have submitted topics on both over the years. There is another in the AWM - that one was very difficult to photograph - so I did not.
A number of churches at one time had trophy stands of captured Boer rifles. I was told of one in South Australia that served as a candle holder. The rifles proved to be 8mm Guedes!
These days in OZ, most trophy guns of any period have their muzzles plugged with cement, mastic or metal plates.
Regards
IL.