[SoulManic]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

Those cannons ex ship, ex garrison were never intended to be used other than from fixed positions, that is shown by the eye on the rear of the cannon & the eye at the front end of the carriage, they are for attaching the ropes & pulleys for return to battery position, after firing and reloading. Horses would have great difficulty dragging that lot any where.
Cannons for field use had an entirley different carriage. Look at the Armstrong Field Gun circa 1850's that will give you some idea of a horse drawn field carriage.
Even if you did manage to make a replica of the carriage what good would it be without a cannon, where would you put it, on the Coppice, the local yobbery would have it within days.
Retlaw.

Always so negative Walter. I've said before that the shame is on us if we let the yobs dictate our actions. By the way, I wasn't suggesting that these cannon were field guns to be drawn by horses - you dreamed that one up yourself. I thought we had already agreed that they were garrison cannon. I was only suggesting the possibility that the iron structure under the front may have been some mechanism to assist in re-aligning the cannon. That structure must have had a purpose and I'm open to suggestions (other than being horse-drawn) as to what.