siegeofderry

"Roaring Meg was also the name of a cannon used during the Siege of Derry in 1689. This one is preserved on Derry's city walls but is currently undergoing restoration." from - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Meg_(cannon)

beachcomber australia Wiki's out of date - it's back since 2006.

From the Derry Journal I linked to above: Roaring Meg, named because of its ferocious sound in battle, was used during the Siege of Derry. One account of the famous cannon from the time of the Siege in the Seventeenth Century said: "The noise of its discharge was more terrifying than the contents of the charge to the enemy." The barrel of the cannon bears the inscription 'Fishmongers London 1642,' marking the fact that the cannon was one of 24 cannon sent to the Derry by the City of London and the London Companies after the 1641 siege.

The Morning Chronicle (London), Thursday, December 28, 1826, (quoting the Londonderry Journal) on the occasion of the unveiling of a stone marking the 138th anniversary of the shutting of the gates.

In the meantime the various bodies of the 'Prentice boys, attended by multitudes who sympathised with their feelings of enthusiastic gratitude, marched, with the Londonderry Legions, to the several gates, over which, respectively, they fired three volleys, then to King William's-square, where they fired thrice. Roaring Meg performed her obstreperous duty on the occasion, unimpaired by age, and in defiance of the envious tooth of Time, which corrodes the most perdurable of metals and "steals our years away".

From the Irish Independent, 3 August 1906:

An eighteen-pounder cannon used with destructive effect during the siege of Derry City (1688-9) by the defenders against the assailment of King James’s troops. This piece of ordnance, which is eleven feet long, was presented to the city by the Fishmongers’ Company, London, whose name and title are lettered in the casting on the breech, with the date, 1642. The Apprentice Boys used the old gun for ceremonial firing on Celebration Days (12th August and 18th December in each year). The gun got the name “Roaring Meg” from the extreme loudness of her report. When fired within the city the breakage of glass (then costly) was considerable, and this was especially resented by Catholic residents. In 1832 “Meg” ceased to roar. On the morning of a Celebration in that year it was discovered the gun was spiked, and the body of a tailor’s goose (iron) wedged into her bore. The Dublin Exhibition Executive seek to get “”Roaring Meg” on loan during the Exposition.

Next to the St Columb's Cathedral: www.geograph.ie/photo/3065294 Photo Sphere - Mai 2016: goo.gl/maps/GMtxMSo8U642

Also known as 'Heroes Mound'. An article in the Londonderry Sentinel, 20 January 2011 suggests that the mound was erected in 1890 with the bones of a mass grave, originating from the siege of 1688/89. www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk/news/londonderry-news/folkl...

More details here, talking about the Siege Heroes' Mound being an 1860s temporary resting place for the remains ... via Tailer's Family - journeying!

I thought that this would be a winner when I first saw it but I had painting to do and only got back to it now! In the Londonderrysentinel.co.uk I found the following:- "A mass grave exists in Society Street and the Free School area and extends out to St Columb's Cathedral, and there may be evidence for that because when they were excavating Bishop Street for the new buildings that were built, the Nicholson family led a party to collect as many bones as they could and these bones were re-interred at the east window of St Columb's Cathedral." He went on to say that when Dean Smiley was building the Chancel at the Cathedral in the 1890s the site containing the bones was excavated, and the bones and spoil around them were placed into three carts. He said the intention at the time was that the contents of the carts were to be taken down to the Water Bastion where works were ongoing to try and straighten the bend in the river, but there was an outcry from the people of the Fountain. "The soil and the bones from the Cathedral were taken to 'the strands' along the Foyle River and were taken down to the bays, and they were going to use them to fill in the river. "The people of the Fountain stopped the carts and made them go back to the graveyard. and they took them to what is now the 'Heroes Mound'. That mound is managed by the Apprentice Boys Association and if you look at the obelisk on it you will see two Coats of Arms. One is the City Coat of Arms and the other is the Nicholson Family Coat of Arms, and the family's Coat of Arms was put on the obelisk in recognition of their efforts to re-inter the bones."

what happened there? Google doesn't have much on the event.

"Thomas Phillips (died 22 November 1693) was a Royal Navy officer and engineer who worked with some of the leading naval figures of his period, and was involved in military operations against the French during the Nine Years' War. ..."

via - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Phillips_(engineer)
And - www.dib.ie

Guessing the chain is encased in wood to make it float ?
Someone will know ...

beachcomber australia Which wood would work?

National Library of Ireland on The Commons
It might be dogwood. You can tell by the bark.

beachcomber australia Oh, that old chestnut!