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Sunday 24 November 2013

An unusual local landmark

My wife and I do most of our regular shopping in Welling, Kent. For as long as I can remember the centre of the town has had an unusual landmark ... a mid-nineteenth century caronnade mounted on a plinth on one corner of the main junction. For years I have thought to myself 'I must photograph that one day' ... and yesterday I finally got around to it!







As the plaque points out, the caronnade is on loan from 'Firepower' the Royal Artillery Museum and acts as a memorial to the hutments that were built to house workers in the Royal Arsenal Woolwich and the other local munitions factories (including Vickers at Erith and Crayford) that operated during the First World War.

4 comments:

  1. Bob,

    A splendid trophy from the Crimea - but how does a Victorian carronade pay tribute to munitions workers in the Great War?

    Next they'll say that Nelson's stature is a monument to the loss of the Galahad in the Falklands!

    Regards,
    Arthur

    ReplyDelete
  2. Arthur1815,

    It is a very imposing piece of artillery even if it seems to be an odd choice of memorial for munitions workers. I suspect it was chosen because it was the right size ... and available.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Its amazing the sort of Militaria that you can randomly come across when out and about. It certainly looks like a nice distraction from the rigours of shopping!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lee Hadley,

    I have passed this cannon more times than I can remember, and did not realise why it was there until I actually got around to photographing it.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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