A cannon outside the Main Guard House
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National Cannon Collection
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Daily
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National Cannon Collection
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Barbados has more than beaches and cricket to its name - it is also home to one of the finest collections of cannons in the world. A military base for the British in the 17th and 18th centuries, the island was used as a depository for a substantial amount of valuable military equipment. Cannons can be found all over the island, and the best have been collected together at the Main Guard House of the Garrison Savannah, the pretty Georgian building that is headquarters to the Garrison Committee.
The cannons are mostly British, but pieces from the Dutch, Swedish and Spanish have also been found. Their dates range from 1620 to 1870 and jewels of the collection include the Victoria Gun, the first English rifled muzzle loader, and the Commonwealth Gun, one of only two cannons surviving from Oliver Cromwell's rule of England. Charles II ordered the destruction of all guns bearing the coat of arms of the man he viewed as his father's murderer and Barbados is the proud owner of one of the two that escaped his instruction.
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