Ruth Brown
@baliscoe.bsky.social
Retired museum curator; wide interests- civic history; arms and armour; castles; Scotland; Yorkshire; Armourer and Brasier of London. But my bread and butter is historic cannon. Used to be Basiliscoe...
50 years hard work....
November 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
50 years hard work....
#Ripon- New book on the history of metalworking there
Guy Wilson: True Steel. The metalworkers of Ripon
www.basiliscoe.com/shop/
Guy Wilson: True Steel. The metalworkers of Ripon
www.basiliscoe.com/shop/
October 18, 2025 at 9:29 AM
#Ripon- New book on the history of metalworking there
Guy Wilson: True Steel. The metalworkers of Ripon
www.basiliscoe.com/shop/
Guy Wilson: True Steel. The metalworkers of Ripon
www.basiliscoe.com/shop/
They are very cunning; they haunt abandoned batteries, old quays and country estates- you have to creep up quietly on them...
September 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM
They are very cunning; they haunt abandoned batteries, old quays and country estates- you have to creep up quietly on them...
Commercial gunnade, c1810-50; usually 3 or 6 pds. Marked on trunnions or barrel between trunnions & touchhole. Probably cast in UK. "insurance guns", used on merchant & passenger ships. Still in use in Hong Kong Harbour in the 20th century. T
August 13, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Commercial gunnade, c1810-50; usually 3 or 6 pds. Marked on trunnions or barrel between trunnions & touchhole. Probably cast in UK. "insurance guns", used on merchant & passenger ships. Still in use in Hong Kong Harbour in the 20th century. T
(we are not allowed to drink out of it anymore- but the Richmond cup- 15th century - is still used.
February 14, 2025 at 5:46 PM
(we are not allowed to drink out of it anymore- but the Richmond cup- 15th century - is still used.
The Pasfield (Coconut) Cup- late 16th century; added bonus; the son of John Pasfield (master of the Armourers Company 1590s who gave this cup) was Zachariah Pasfield, canon of St Pauls and licensor of plays in the early 1600s.
February 14, 2025 at 4:36 PM
The Pasfield (Coconut) Cup- late 16th century; added bonus; the son of John Pasfield (master of the Armourers Company 1590s who gave this cup) was Zachariah Pasfield, canon of St Pauls and licensor of plays in the early 1600s.
This would have been my mother's 101at birthday. This is her christening, in Mulben in Banffshire
January 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
This would have been my mother's 101at birthday. This is her christening, in Mulben in Banffshire
Happy St Barbera's Day- patron saint of gunners. On a beautiful gun cast in Florence by Cosimo Cenni, now in Venice
December 4, 2024 at 7:34 AM
Happy St Barbera's Day- patron saint of gunners. On a beautiful gun cast in Florence by Cosimo Cenni, now in Venice
The last of our historical Meg cannon for #CannonFromHistory: Faule Mag from Dresden; 15th century wrought-iron piece on a very old carriage; now in the Military Museum in #Dresden
December 3, 2024 at 4:32 PM
The last of our historical Meg cannon for #CannonFromHistory: Faule Mag from Dresden; 15th century wrought-iron piece on a very old carriage; now in the Military Museum in #Dresden
Today's #CannonFromHistory- another Meg- Dulle Griet from Ghent, manufactured in the workshop of Jean de Cambier in the mid-15th century for Philip Duke of Burgundy. No longer neighbour to a fish and chip stall...
December 2, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Today's #CannonFromHistory- another Meg- Dulle Griet from Ghent, manufactured in the workshop of Jean de Cambier in the mid-15th century for Philip Duke of Burgundy. No longer neighbour to a fish and chip stall...
Today's #CannonFromHistory; continuing with Megs; #MonsMeg of Edinburgh Castle; made in Mons in 1449 and given by the Duke of Burgundy as a present to James II of Scotland; my honeymoon was cut short so she could be x-rayed in Kent.
November 28, 2024 at 5:33 PM
Today's #CannonFromHistory; continuing with Megs; #MonsMeg of Edinburgh Castle; made in Mons in 1449 and given by the Duke of Burgundy as a present to James II of Scotland; my honeymoon was cut short so she could be x-rayed in Kent.
Today's #CannonInHistory, another Roaring Meg- this one an iron mortar cast by Colonel Birch in the Forest of Dean in 1646 to take #Goodrich castle. Used to be displayed in #Hereford., now back at Goodrich. And the effigy of Colonel Birch (and a short article: drive.google.com/file/d/1Bd9g... )
November 27, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Today's #CannonInHistory, another Roaring Meg- this one an iron mortar cast by Colonel Birch in the Forest of Dean in 1646 to take #Goodrich castle. Used to be displayed in #Hereford., now back at Goodrich. And the effigy of Colonel Birch (and a short article: drive.google.com/file/d/1Bd9g... )
Since it is the anniversary of the Great Storm of 1703, and one of the lost ships was the Stirling Castle and my grandfather was born in Stirling, here's the cannon that identified the wreck: a captured Dutch gun by Assuerus Koster, my favourite gunfounder.
November 26, 2024 at 6:29 PM
Since it is the anniversary of the Great Storm of 1703, and one of the lost ships was the Stirling Castle and my grandfather was born in Stirling, here's the cannon that identified the wreck: a captured Dutch gun by Assuerus Koster, my favourite gunfounder.
Today's #Cannon from History: Roaring Meg on the walls of #Derry/Londonderry. Iron demi-culverin given by the #Fishmongers Company of London in 1642, cast by John Browne of #Horsmonden. Played a part in the 1689 siege.
November 25, 2024 at 2:27 PM
Today's #Cannon from History: Roaring Meg on the walls of #Derry/Londonderry. Iron demi-culverin given by the #Fishmongers Company of London in 1642, cast by John Browne of #Horsmonden. Played a part in the 1689 siege.
Some of the cannon are still around; this one between Portsmouth and Southsea
November 19, 2024 at 10:04 AM
Some of the cannon are still around; this one between Portsmouth and Southsea
Today's cannon; a glorious piece cast for the fortifications at Rhodes; captured by the Ottomans, given to Napoleon III; human to show the scale...It is now displayed horizontally in Les Invalides.
November 18, 2024 at 4:28 PM
Today's cannon; a glorious piece cast for the fortifications at Rhodes; captured by the Ottomans, given to Napoleon III; human to show the scale...It is now displayed horizontally in Les Invalides.
Today's #cannon is one of my favourites- an 18 pounder cast by the Dutch founder Assuerus Koster for the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1634. Now in the Naval Cultural centre in Rio de Janeiro. The detailing on the mermen is delicious!
November 16, 2024 at 4:32 PM
Today's #cannon is one of my favourites- an 18 pounder cast by the Dutch founder Assuerus Koster for the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1634. Now in the Naval Cultural centre in Rio de Janeiro. The detailing on the mermen is delicious!
Today's cannon, another cast-iron 6 pounder from #Leith. But this is an Armstrong pattern cast in the reign of George II- you can see the GR2 cypher. Cast at #Heathfield, #Sussex by John Fuller- the son or, less likely, the grandson of the earlier John Fuller; it has the trunnion mark IF.
November 14, 2024 at 3:47 PM
Today's cannon, another cast-iron 6 pounder from #Leith. But this is an Armstrong pattern cast in the reign of George II- you can see the GR2 cypher. Cast at #Heathfield, #Sussex by John Fuller- the son or, less likely, the grandson of the earlier John Fuller; it has the trunnion mark IF.
6 Pounder British Borgard Pattern cannon, cast by John Fuller between 1716 and 1725; now at Leith. It has the rose and crown on the barrel, so these guns are often mis-dated to "Tudor times".
November 12, 2024 at 3:53 PM
6 Pounder British Borgard Pattern cannon, cast by John Fuller between 1716 and 1725; now at Leith. It has the rose and crown on the barrel, so these guns are often mis-dated to "Tudor times".