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Match-lock wall gun: HEN.M.424-1933

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 31 (Armoury)

Maker(s)

Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Match-lock wall gun. Mark on lock 'WR' with crown above.

Legal notes

J.S. Henderson Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933-03-16) by Henderson, James Stewart

Dating

17th Century, Late
Production date: circa AD 1690

Note

This is an early example of a musket used by the British army in the reign of Queen Mary – reigned 1689–94. It has a flintlock mechanism and the barrel is smooth bored and thick walled making it heavy so that the gun needed a rest to help steady it for firing. These weapons were not very accurate but when used in large groups they could make a significant effect. Loading was also quite slow as they were loaded with powder and ball down the muzzle and pressed hard down with a ramrod - a process taking around one minute. To overcome this slow rate of fire, musketeers were arranged in three rows one behind the other, the front one fired and then retreated behind the third row to reload, the second line fired and retreated like the first and so on enabling them to achieve a rapid rate of fire. The rest is a modern replacement.

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: the letters WR with crown above

  • Text: WR
  • Location: On lock
  • Method of creation: Inscribed
  • Type: Mark

Identification numbers

Accession number: HEN.M.424-1933
Primary reference Number: 19503
Old object number: PB 159
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 18 December 2023 Last processed: Monday 18 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Match-lock wall gun" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/19503 Accessed: 2024-11-08 16:15:31

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/19503 |title=Match-lock wall gun |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-08 16:15:31|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-19503

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