History buffs solve the mystery of the cannon

The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald ran a story last February which appealed for information about the cannon – which was in the garden of a family home in Switchback Road, Bearsden.

The owner of the historic artefact was keen to find out more about it the historic artifact and how it got there.

Since then, Marie Davidson, secretary of The Historical Association for Glasgow and the West of Scotland and her husband Richard Binns, association treasurer, who live in Milngavie, have been doing a bit of research to find out more about the cannon.

They believe that it may have come from Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow because two Russian cannons, dated 1857, which were gifted to Glasgow, were placed there as a memorial for the fallen soldiers in the Crimean War.

Mrs Davidson said: “The cannons reminded people of the charge of the Light Brigade thanks to a poem by Lord Tennyson. It is said that they came from the siege of Sebastopol.

“They were moved from the park in 1916 to make room for the famous statue of Lord Robert’s and nobody knew what happened to them - yet one of them appears to have come to light in a garden in Bearsden in the 1930s, in an area which was previously part of Garscube Estate.

“After approaching the military museum in Edinburgh the owner has also discovered that two cannons were melted down in 1926 and the third one disappeared.

“The cannon shows the Russian Imperial symbol of an double headed eagle and looks very similar in size to the ones that were in Kelvingrove Park.

“This is a very exciting find and it is now being considered for conservation due to it’s historical significance.

“We are going to help the owner to seek advice from the Scottish Civic Trust and Historic Scotland for the best way forward now.

“We’d like to thank Gary Nisbet, an expert on Glasgow Sculptures, for all his help in solving this mystery.”

The cannon has now been removed from the garden in Switchback Road because the house has been demolished for new flats to be built.