Mons Meg and the Siege of Threave

[@Crusty_Camper]

It's good to hear this detailed history. I have seen Mons Meg and it's very impressive even today.

[@gallowayretold6124]

Oh aye. She's a terrible beauty.

[@trig6712]

Good Thankyou Er Bombie Glen was one of the most haunted places I worked in for one day

[@bobfranklin2536]

A nice video you have done. Thanks!

[@gallowayretold6124]

Thank you 🙏

[@davidowen6977]

Well telt 👌 Those who wield powerful 'super' weapons, take note of James eventual fate 🤔

[@gallowayretold6124]

Aye. Those who do not heed the lessons of history an a that!

[@jacqueline4905]

​@@gallowayretold6124we're not doing that atm.😮😢

[@RHR-221b]

@davidowen6977 In the cauld snaw blowin' right up the Grassmarket, with withering white heather on a scummy tray, James' proclaims: *'Get yer lucky Big Cannon here.'*

[@ian-q1w9k]

William Train, son of 19th century historian Joseph Train, wrote a play about Mons Meg, and it was performed in a Castle Douglas church. In your research have you ever come across a script or any details about the play?

[@gallowayretold6124]

I haven't, but I may well have a look see what I can find.

[@moniqueengleman873]

I was at Threave castle 1980. A Douglass A Douglass

[@douglaslockhart1617]

😊❤

[@RHR-221b]

Thank you, Angela. Another mind-opener to get my teeth into! To You and Your Colleagues. Stay free. Rab and Mary. 👋 🕊 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- _Remembrance. Addendum._ *Mons Meg* [Credit: historic environment scot] This six-tonne siege gun is what cutting edge military technology once looked like. Mons Meg could fire a 150kg gunstone for up to 3.2km (2 miles). She was one of a pair of giant iron cannons given to James II in 1457 by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy. Her name is taken from the Belgian town of Mons, where she was made in 1449 - at a cost of 1,536 pounds and 2 shillings. ‘Meg’ was added only later, in the 17th-century. Mons Meg was so heavy that even a team of oxen couldn’t move her more than 5km (3 miles) a day. So it was quite a feat when, in 1460, James II had her hauled 80km (50 miles) to the siege of Roxburgh Castle. But the unlucky king was killed there when another of his cannons exploded. James IV put Mons Meg back in action, first to attack Dumbarton Castle (in 1489) *and then Threave Castle and Norham Castle (both in 1497).* She ended her fighting days in James V’s navy, retiring around 1550. Oliver Cromwell would later refer to the gun as the 'great iron murderer called Muckle Meg' when he captured Edinburgh Castle in 1650. When Mary Queen of Scots married in 1558, Mons Meg fired a gunstone over the city in celebration. It landed in what is now the Royal Botanic Garden. She fired her last salute in 1680, to mark a visit to Edinburgh by James, Duke of York. _Her barrel finally burst in 1681._ Mons Meg spent 75 years in England, on display at the Tower of London. The Tower’s 1821 guide said of the cannon: 'it is of such amazing dimensions that a man may go into its mouth.' She made her welcome return to Edinburgh Castle in 1829. Cavalry and infantry escorted her from Leith Docks to Castle Rock. A new timber and iron carriage was made for the gun in 1934. Mons Meg is on loan from the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries.

[@gallowayretold6124]

Thanks again, Rab! All the best to you and Mary

[@monsmeg9657]

BOOM

[@jacqueline4905]

I remember decades ago. Honeymoon in Edinburgh. My husband struck a match to Monsmeg. I was actually worried he'd be arrested 😅. I was 😮. He wasn't 😊😊😊.

[@gallowayretold6124]

Oh oh 😳 sounds like quite a honeymoon....

[@jacqueline4905]

@@gallowayretold6124 I meant I was worried. I wasn't arrested 😂😂