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A RELIC CANNONBALL from the Spanish Armada has washed up on a beach in Co. Sligo.
Local man and committee member of the Grange Armada Development Association (GADA) Dónal Gilroy found the cannonball himself while walking on Streedagh strand.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie Gilroy says the centuries-old weapon was ‘just sitting up there waiting to be found’.
“We’ve had a number of items discovered recently because of the winter storms with them washing up then on the spring tides,” Gilroy says.
It really was as simple as that, I’ve been walking on that beach all my life and never found anything before, it’s quite incredible.
Contrary to how the ball looks above, it’s actually quite small, about 80mm in thickness.
“It would have come from a smaller swivel cannon,” says Gilroy.
It’s smaller than it looks and actually quite light.
We’re pretty sure it’s made out of granite.
So what’s next in store for the Streedagh cannonball?
Well, we’re obliged by law to tell the National Museum when we make a find like this.
They’ll be down next month to have a look and take the ball for display, but until then we’ll be showing it around the schools and that kind of thing, try and drum up a little interest in the history of it.
But it’ll be kept safe in secure storage, don’t worry!
The beach at Streedagh has long been a hotspot for Armada enthusiasts.
Three ships from the infamous 16th century naval force were driven into nearby Donegal Bay by bad weather on 21 September, 1588.
The three ships (La Lavia, La Juliana, and Santa Maria de Vision) were wrecked four days later by a heavy storm after putting down anchor off Streedagh strand.
As many as 1,100 people are thought to have died when the ships foundered.
The wrecks were rediscovered in 1985 by the ‘Streedagh Armada Group’ headed by Steve Birch and Alan King who were instrumental in raising cannons and other artifacts from the seabed.
The site has been described by English maritime archaeologist Dr. Douglas McElvogue as “the best archaeological site for this type of maritime archaeology in the world.”
Prior to the cannonball, two huge pieces of timber from the wrecks were found late last month.
Last September an enormous 20-foot wooden rudder from one of the wrecked galleons, was discovered washed up on the beach by a local farmer.
they did this in the uk over 20 yrs ago – the only difference it made was that response time were slower and ‘smaller’ crimes went un-investigated due to a lack of manpower at local level ,instead of getting an officer at your door to deal with an incident ,you got a ‘crime number ‘ from someone in a call centre , it was up to YOU to ‘check up’ on the ‘progress’ of the case, al that happened was that people stopped reporting ‘minor’ incidents like shed break-ins, car thefts ,street robberies etc , and those in charge of the police force were able to say that ”reported crime numbers were down ” and so deemed the move to regional offices a success . in reality -crime numbers were rising but no one was reporting them as they new it would be a waste of time doing so . what is needed is MORE gardai at local level -not fewer !
@Eric Davies: I thought the whole idea of the restructuring was to increase the number of garda and Sargents as there would be less admin and the reduction in high level salaries would be reinvested in local level gardai, hence the number of local gardai would increase, would it not?
@Eric Davies: and that’s when the Tony martin incident took place!!
@Eric Davies: yes I got a crime number in Cardiff Wales and that was that
@Vocal Outrage: It didn’t work when the divisions in England/Wales were reduced, there are 20,000 fewer officers now,the divisions in England/Wales rank 27 out of 31 in an International survey of the number of police officers per 100,000 population
@Honeybee: you are right. And guess what, we are ranked even lower.
@Vocal Outrage: thats how it was sold to people -but its not how it turned out – stations that were 20 or so miles apart were ‘amalgamated’ into one – some where even in different counties (lancashire and cheshire for instance) leaving one of the communities without proper cover – when shift changes took place officers had to be at the station for their ‘sign on’ briefing – by the time that was done it meant no officers being available in the non stationed town for over an hour sometimes 2 – also any incidents reported in the town where there was a station would get priority with regard to manpower as they were closer to the station … i know former police officers who were serving at the time and it messed up the entire system .
Also a list of where Krispy Kreme donut outlets will be opening up soon.
@WoodlandBard: hilarious
@Mark Spain: they’re shite donuts.
our fine ruc
@Kieran Cronin: yawn
@Kieran Cronin: Your stone must have needed cleaning that’s fine. Now crawl back under that stone. Stay their clown.
@Kieran Cronin: Muppet
@Kieran Cronin: I, for one, believe the Chief Constable is doing a fine job.
The Cities of Galway, Cork and Dublin are Regional HQs – Kilkenny is upgraded to include its very own ‘Regional Chief Superintendent’ while both the Cities of Limerick and Waterford are ignored? By most accounts both Limerick and Waterford have a higher inner-city crime rate then the entire County of Kilkenny. Something politically amiss here even though I think Commissioner Drew Harris is a breath of fresh air in the corp and the right person to lead the organisation.
@Conor Nolan:
because there is an eastern region covering from meath to waterford. Kilkenny would be in the middle of that. seems logical to me.
@Tim Pot: it does seem strange that. the regional HQ for the Eastern Region is in Kilkenny, I can understand the geography of that one, but the divisional HQ that covers Kilkenny itself will be in Waterford
@Vocal Outrage:
Its the same for the others, example the western region the regional hq is galway, the superintendant monaghan yet the monaghan division hq in drogheda. Its just about finding the right balance between local and central governance. I see no issue.
@Tim Pot: I guess so, I don’t think the army have their overall HQ is the same location as the HQ for the region it’s in, so perhaps that’s a better practice to avoid undue interference from the regional chief super or something
Wenger out
Anyone else see the ad for the fine transit there boss
Joke simple as
As kildare and meath have the lowest number of guards per population this is not good news. We need kildare meath wicklow and louth to be a region on their own. This will lead to these regions losing more guards to other regions. This is not a good idea.
have your say