River Don Cannon

[SteveHB]

Magnet fishermen have pulled a cannon from Sheffield's River Don

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-

[SteveHB]

 

[Lysanderix]

Back in the 1970s Sheffield Junior Chamber of Commerce organised a “River Don Clean Up” along with several local schools. My section of the river included  that part of the river that ran past Daniel Doncaster’s. We collected a skip full of scrap forgings which had been “lost” !

All of this was done without the benefit of magnets…just manpower and some wet clothing!

[Heartshome]

I'm guessing that along the length of the River, she hasn't yet given up all her treasures, as this

cannon find proves. I know a few years ago, some cannon balls were found, though I'm not

sure in which stretch. Fascinating to know there are still undiscovered artefacts in there!

[SteveHB]

6 minutes ago, Heartshome said:

I'm guessing that along the length of the River, she hasn't yet given up all her treasures, as this

cannon find proves. I know a few years ago, some cannon balls were found, though I'm not

sure in which stretch. Fascinating to know there are still undiscovered artefacts in there!

"Cannon balls" could travel a long way down a flooded river.

[Heartshome]

25 minutes ago, SteveHB said:

"Cannon balls" could travel a long way down a flooded river.

Yes true! but amazing to be found still in there though, you never know what might turn up next!

                                    Regards Heartshome 🍀

[SteveHB]

Reminds me of when I used to fish in the canal basin, I was carp fishing at the time, two rods both equipped with 10 pound line,

got something heavy on the end and I knew it wasn't a fish, it wasn't moving around and took a long time to reel in,

it turned out to be a foundry boot.

[Lysanderix]

Not sure if Sheffield ever made cast iron cannon balls. I do know that they were made at a foundry in nearby Renishaw .Solid shot became obsolete mid 19th century to be replaced by the artillery shell……of which Sheffield produced millions.

I wonder ,does anyone know about Sheffields involvement in producing cannon balls.?

[hackey lad]

4 hours ago, Heartshome said:

I'm guessing that along the length of the River, she hasn't yet given up all her treasures, as this

cannon find proves. I know a few years ago, some cannon balls were found, though I'm not

sure in which stretch. Fascinating to know there are still undiscovered artefacts in there!

I don't think they were cannon balls , more likely  weights off a fly press .

[Heartshome]

2 hours ago, hackey lad said:

I don't think they were cannon balls , more likely  weights off a fly press .

TRUE! the Star ran the story of police divers finding what they thought to be a 'cannon ball'

After much debate! The question still goes on about it!

It does look very much like one of the fly press weights, used in the cutlery works,

but! it has been suggested it could actually have 'been a cannon ball' re-used in this way,

+ there is evidence that there were cannon balls made with holes in where an explosive

charge was sealed in to the base with a copper fuse. There's a photo of one found Canada c1812. 

 

[History dude]

After just a short dip with a few magnets on one bridge, just imagine how much metal is the rest of the river that flows through Sheffield!

It would be a scrap man's dream come true 🤩

[Heartshome]

2 hours ago, History dude said:

After just a short dip with a few magnets on one bridge, just imagine how much metal is the rest of the river that flows through Sheffield!

It would be a scrap man's dream come true 🤩

Most certainly! the Magnet Fishermen could have years worth off work ahead of them, and maybe

a few more 'surprises' as well.

[tozzin]

On 20/08/2023 at 17:16, Heartshome said:

I'm guessing that along the length of the River, she hasn't yet given up all her treasures, as this

cannon find proves. I know a few years ago, some cannon balls were found, though I'm not

sure in which stretch. Fascinating to know there are still undiscovered artefacts in there!

If I’m thinking of the “canon balls” you’ve mentioned, the ones in the paper were actually weights from fly presses for marking small items or pressing buckles or buttons into a shape. The holes in the weights were square not round.

[Ponytail]

1 hour ago, tozzin said:

If I’m thinking of the “canon balls” you’ve mentioned, the ones in the paper were actually weights from fly presses for marking small items or pressing buckles or buttons into a shape. The holes in the weights were square not round.

 

Cannon balls hauled from the River Don as reported in The Star, 2nd May 2018

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/suspected-cannonball-hauled-from-river-don-in-sheffield-is-an-industrial-weight-435758

 

[History dude]

You could get Cannon balls in the river, but it would have to be near the Castle site. From the siege of the Castle in the Civil War. 

[Heartshome]

10 hours ago, History dude said:

You could get Cannon balls in the river, but it would have to be near the Castle site. From the siege of the Castle in the Civil War. 

Hia. Yes, they would have been, but as Steve mentioned, you have to take in to consideration that flood water

can take things way down the river from where they originally were. Fast moving water is very powerful.

[Ponytail]

1 hour ago, Heartshome said:

Hia. Yes, they would have been, but as Steve mentioned, you have to take in to consideration that flood water

can take things way down the river from where they originally were. Fast moving water is very powerful.

Ball Street Bridge where they were magnet fishing from is upstream from Sheffield Castle. 

[tozzin]

You'll find all kinds of items thrown in the river over the years,  in the canal at the rear of what was B. & J Sippels cutlery firm, many items were thrown into the canal, mainly cutlery items that were send back to be re worked but some were just tossed through the window sooner than stop earning their piece work rate as repairs had to be done at their expense.

[Lysanderix]

And don’t forget the canal which received its share of unwanted “scrappers”.

[History dude]

12 minutes ago, Lysanderix said:

And don’t forget the canal which received its share of unwanted “scrappers”.

The canal does get dredged though. It was extensively rebuilt and cleared when the basin was altered too.  

[Heartshome]

2 hours ago, Lysanderix said:

And don’t forget the canal which received its share of unwanted “scrappers”.

This is true! my friend was telling me, that when her Aunt lived on a boat, she frequently burnt saucepans,

and if the contents were beyond help, she just threw the pan in the water! Wonder how many more did that!

[Lysanderix]

I worked in an office by the canal at Tinsley for something like 20 years and never once did I see it dredged. …..but that was just a few years ago…..when the canal still saw some commercial use.

[hackey lad]

8 hours ago, tozzin said:

You'll find all kinds of items thrown in the river over the years,  in the canal at the rear of what was B. & J Sippels cutlery firm, many items were thrown into the canal, mainly cutlery items that were send back to be re worked but some were just tossed through the window sooner than stop earning their piece work rate as repairs had to be done at their expense.

I worked in the Sepilia works on Cadman St and know of some empty parking meters dumped in the canal there .

[SteveHB]

Talking of cannon balls, I wonder where these came from, and where they could have ended up.

 

The Weston Park Observatory

 

 

 

[History dude]

The British Waterways are a bit more active with the Sheffield Canal then what they used to be.  Back in the 1990's nobody would have been surprised at the presence of a car in the canal, like in the Full Monty film. But you would these days.  There are pictures of the canal basin being drained on the Picture Sheffield site.  However rubbish is still being dumped and it costs the Council thousands of pounds to clear it up. They do prosecute offenders, but a lot of them are done by CCTV footage. I suspect there's very few CCTV watching rivers or canals.