See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Thirteen cannon from HMS Weazle which sank off Baggy Point in 1799, have been recovered. One now sits outside the Cart Linhay Heritage Centre in Morthoe.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS44SW/16/1
• Tide Project: 07/08/2020

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CANNON (XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD (Between))

Full description

Unknown, Unknown (Worksheet). SDV59704.

Two iron cannon recovered off Baggy Point by Ilfracombe and North Devon Sub Aqua Club from HMS Weazle, sunk in 1799. Exact location unspecified. Recovered in 1972 and 1973. The cannon were marked 'W. Co' (Walker Company).

Balfour, H. S., 1970, The Wreck of the HMS Weazle, 105-119 (Article in Serial). SDV73905.

Eleven of the fourteen cannon from the ship have been recovered.

Ferns, J. L., 1978, The Walker Company of Rotherham, 211 (Article in Serial). SDV59705.

Mills, A., 1996, Cannon from HMS Weazle (Personal Comment). SDV59707.

Two cannon from HMS Weazle were mounted on a specially constructed platform on Knowle Castle in 1850, and fired on special occasions. They were removed to Buckland Manor when they proved too heavy for the platform.

Brock, B. + Brock, A., 1998, HMS Weazle 1782-1799, 67, 75 (Monograph). SDV73906.

The Weazle, built in 1782, was armed with 14 x 4 pound guns and 12 x half pound swivel guns. She was wrecked off Baggy Point on 11th February 1799.
The North Devon Journal records the discovery of a cannon at Baggy Point in 1852 and also five guns being seen in low water near Bideford Bar off Northam Burrows in 1858, two of which were retrieved. These cannons may be the ones now [1998] in the grounds of Buckland House. [However, the type of cannon; they are referred to as long 18 pound type, and their location so far south of the wreck site may point to them being from another vessel].
One of the Weazle’s guns was brought up by a trawler net in Croyde Bay and given to the North Devon Maritime Museum in 1977. It now stands on a gun carriage outside the museum. Since 1970 the wreck has been in the ownership of the Ilfracombe Sub-Aqua Club. They have recovered various artefacts and two cannon – one found in 1969 was sold and the other sent to a museum in Rotherham, its place of manufacture. The maker’s mark is said to be the same as on HMS Victory’s guns.

Green, T. + Blaylock, S., 1999, The Morte Estate: Properties between Ilfracombe and Croyde Part I: Baggy Point, 21, 22 (Report - Survey). SDV339619.

Two cannon were raised in 1972 and 1973, presumably additional to the eleven recovered prior to 1970. One cannon now sits outside the Cart Linhay Heritage Centre in Mortehoe.

Collings, A. G. + Manning, P. T. + Valentin, J., 2007, The North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Phase 1. Archaeological Survey. Summary Report, No. 750 (Report - Assessment). SDV339712.

University of Southampton, 2018, North Devon Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Desk-Based Assessment, No. 247 (Interpretation). SDV361978.

Cannon.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV7150 - CANNON (XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.