Godfrey's Gospel: The story behind Carlow’s courthouse cannon

ONE OF Carlow's best-known landmarks went missing a couple of weeks ago – but don't worry, I am reliably informed it will be back sitting proudly in its original position very soon. In fact, that may even be by the end of the week.

I am referring to the Crimean cannon, which has stood outside Carlow Courthouse for the past 167 years and has featured in countless photos and postcards of the courthouse.

Isn't it amazing to think that such a famous big gun – and one that would take quite an effort to move – disappeared without most people even noticing.

These Crimean cannon were described as 64-pounders, referencing the weight of the cannon balls they fired. They were heavy and clumsy and weighed two tonnes, so you can just imagine the effort it took to remove the cannon from the front of the courthouse.

However, now that we know the cannon went missing, you might ask why? According to an email sent to my source by the Courts Service on 21 May, 'the cannon has been removed for refurbishment and it is anticipated it will be returned by the end of next week’.

Its very absence got me wondering whether or not the thousands of people who walk up the steps of the courthouse each year in search of justice or to have it meted out ever wonder about the cannon and its link with the town.

If you think removing it for refurbishment was a feat in itself, just imagine the effort it took to get the cannon up the steps of the courthouse in the first place.

As described, it is a cannon that was used by the Russians during the Crimean War between 1853 and 1956 and was captured by the 88th Regiment of the British Army.

It was donated to the people of Carlow following representations by Carlow town commissioners in 1857 to the then British minister of war Lord Panmure, otherwise known as Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, and arrived in Carlow in 1858.

The gun is original, its carriage isn't, but that’s no surprise considering it had to make a journey of more than 4,000 kilometres to get to Ireland in the first place.

It is one of 21 such guns sent to Ireland; seven were sent to various army barracks and the remainder to towns such as Carlow. The reason: to commemorate Irish officers and men who died in that conflict. Four Irish regiments fought in that war. It is estimated that one-third of the British Army which fought in that conflict were Irish, of which an estimated 7,000 died.

Ireland wasn’t the only country to get a memento, so to speak, from that war. Cannons were also sent to parts of Britain, France and even as far away as Canada and Australia.

Why those responsible chose to place the Crimean cannon at the front of the courthouse is unknown, but it might have something to do with the Bruen family, once the most prominent family in the county and among the most prominent in the country.

The original Henry Bruen bought Oak Park, originally called Painestown, from the Cooke family in 1785. It consisted of a mere 600 hectares, but he quickly added to that by purchasing practically all of the land in the surrounding 13 parishes until he eventually acquired 10,000 hectares – a mere 24,700 acres to those of us who don't know what a hectare is.

Anyway, another famous landmark, Carlow Courthouse, designed by William Vitruvius Morrison in 1830, who also designed the Grand Arch entrance to Oak Park, was constructed thanks to the patronage of the Bruen family, so methinks that if a cannon from the Crimean War was going to be erected anywhere, it was going to sit proudly on the plinth of a building paid in part by the most influential clan in the county at that time.

As a matter of interest, the Bruens remained at Oak Park – renamed by the first Henry Bruen when he saw all the oak trees there –until the fifth Henry died in 1954, after which the estate was sold to an English farming syndicate.

Two years later, the estate was taken over by the Land Commission and broken up, some given to what were known as migrant farmers, some to Carlow Golf Club and some to County Carlow Football Club.

As a youngster, I remember going to the rugby club on Saturdays to pick stones on the front pitch, long before anyone was allowed to play on it. Our payment, a bottle of Corcoran’s orange and a packet of crisps. Happy days!