Collections Online

18 pounder cast iron carronade. On replica wooden shipboard carriage.

Many Welsh ironworks made cannonballs, while a small number produced cannons.

Carronades were a type of cannon, invented by the Scottish Carron Iron Company in the early 1770s. They were lighter than ordinary cannons and fired at a shorter range of around 500m. Like all cannons, carronades were loaded with gunpowder and cannonballs or a large number of musket balls.

Carronades were used on a range of ships, including the Royal Navy, East India Company and slaving ships, but were particularly popular with merchant or trade ships. Due to their limited range, carronades were often used to fire musket balls at people.

This cast iron carronade came from Cyfarthfa Ironworks, which was owned by the Crawshay family. It was made in 1802, at which point Cyfarthfa was the largest ironworks in the world.

This one in particular was likely created for a merchant or trade ship, or to be exported overseas, as it doesn’t have the usual Royal Navy inscription. However, it was never sold and was eventually used as a garden decoration in one of the Crawshay family’s homes.

It is inscribed with the following: 18 P (18 pounder) P 1802 (proofed [tested] in 1802) Charge K Proof (the weight of gunpowder used to proof the gun) Charge service (the weight of gunpowder used in action) 9-3-14 (its weight – 9 hundredweights, 3 quarts, 14 pounds – which is equivalent to 502kg)

[Description developed in collaboration with members of Chai & Chat (Swansea CVS), July 2024]