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CRIMEAN CANNONS - WHERE ARE THEY NOW?junction of the Bristol and Bath Roads Bridgwater Somerset Great Britain A memorial to those days of the Crimean War is the cannon in the middle of the roundabout at the junction of the Bristol and Bath Roads. It was originally a Russian cannon captured in the Crimean War, presented to the town in 1857, and placed in Salmon Parade about 40 yards from the Town Bridge. In 1886 it was moved to the present locality, but sadly removed for scrap metal during the second world war. The present cannon is a replica. Denis Heron (1829-1895), Troop Sergeant-Major and Sergeant-Instructor in the West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry, but who had been a member of the Queen's Own Hussars, the 4th Light Dragoons and one of the survivors of the gallant six hundred who had ridden in the fateful Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. The whole saga is told grippingly by Roger Evans in his book. Irish by birth, Denis Heron spent most of his life in Bridgwater, living in Salmon Parade where the original Crimean Cannon memorial was located. After his death from bronchitis, often fatal in those days before antibiotics, he was buried with full military honours in the top right corner of the cemetery in Bristol Road. To recognise the presence of this hero, in 1857, three years after the Charge, the borough council petitioned Parliament for the provision of a Russian cannon captured in the Crimea. The gun was granted and was welcomed by bands of music as it progressed through the town and placed outside Heron's house, between the town bridge and the hospital. In 1883, the cannon was moved to the junction of the Bath and Bristol Roads, a junction which henceforth became known as 'The Cannon'. In 2014 Bridgwater College staff and students restored the town's cannon. The work included dismantling the existing parts of the cannon by removing all original ironmongery and timber sections and using the existing parts as templates to re-make the cannon base following the original design. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION  FACILITIES Access all Year, Access by Road, Access on Foot LANDSCAPE Country town/village REGION England - Southern THE FEATURES PRESENT Crimean Cannon Location, past or present |
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