A DEMI culverin cannon used by the Jacobite forces in the 1691 Siege of Limerick was yesterday handed over to the Lord Mayor of Limerick. Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, handed it over to Mr Jim Kemmy TD at Sarsfield Barracks.
Mr Kemmy is patron of the Limerick Civic Trust. It is to be given to the trustees of the Hunt Museum for display in the Customs House Park in front of its new premises, which are now being restored.
The barrel of the cannon is 11 ft long and, without carriage, it weighs 1.5 tonnes. It took eight men and 46 horses to draw it 300 years ago. It was dug up from the bed of the River Shannon 10 years ago by the Limerick Civic Trust and recovered with the permission of the Office of Public Works.
With another cannon also recovered, it was used as a bollard for tying up sailing ships in the former port of Limerick at the Customs House. The cannon was restored and fitted with a reproduction carriage, under the direction of Comdt James O'Neill, by the Ordinance Corps.