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Disappearing Gun Trow Rocks headland
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Located on Trow Rocks South Shields is a replica of a disappearing gun. The original was installed in 1877 as part of experiments into the use of disappearing gun mounts.
The concept of a disappearing gun was formulated by Captain CS Moncrief of the Edinburgh Militia Artillery. During the Crimean War (1854—56) he had observed the vulnerability of British Gunners during counter bombardment as they loaded their muzzle loading guns.
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| Gun Emplacements Crimean War |
Moncrief came up with idea of guns mounted in hidden emplacements which would only be exposed at their moment of firing. His idea was accepted by a Royal Commission in 1859, however initial designs were rejected. The carriage system was finally accepted in 1867, and would be deployed in scale form 1871.
The Moncrieff mounting was mechanical. The gun would be elevated into the firing position by the detachment, the recoil would return the into it’s hidden loading position.
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| Moncrieff Gun Mounting |
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| Moncrieff Gun Mounting |
To improve the operability of the disappearing guns the idea of using pneumatics or hydraulics to move a gun platform was formulated. To assess potential solutions trials were held compare designs.
One of the potential designs was put forward by the Clarke-Maxim Company, known for the Maxim machine gun. The 3rd Durham Volunteer Artillery had leased land on Trow Rocks from the Tyne Commissioners and in 1885 were asked to lease the land to the War Office in order for Maxim to conduct trials for a disappearing gun.
Construction at Clarke-Maxim’s own expense commenced in October 1886.
A cylindrical concrete emplacement 6.4 metres (21 feet) in diameter excavated to a depth of 4.3 metres (14 feet) formed the infrastructure. A steel platform floating on water was raised and lowered by air pressure using pumps. A 6 inch B.L. Mk IV gun was mounted on the platform.
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Clarke-Maxim disappearing platform at Trow Rocks
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| Replica Clarke-Maxim disappearing gun platform |
Trials of the Clarke-Maxim disappearing gun platform were conducted on the 15th / 16th December 1887. The mechanism proved unsuccessful. The time taken for the platform to move back into a firing position was 8 hours.
Trials at Shoeburyness on a hydro-pneumatic solution put forward William Armstrong’s Elswick factory would become the adopted gun mounting.
The Clarke-Maxim gun was removed in 1894, the interior cylinder filled with earth, leaving the concrete emplacement.
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Trow Rocks Gun Emplacement
Source: South Tyneside Historical Archives |
A replica platform and gun was mounted by the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in the 1990’s.
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Replica gun being hoisted into position
Source: South Tyneside Historical Archives |
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Replica gun being hoisted into position
| Source: South Tyneside Historical Archives |
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Replica gun in position
| Source: South Tyneside Historical Archives |
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Replica gun and platfrom complete
| Source: South Tyneside Historical Archives |
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Restoration and maintenance of the gun was undertaken by 205 (3rd Durham Volunteer Artillery) Battery Royal Artilley in 2015. The latter day 3 DVA Gunners working next to the original practice battery of the Volunteer Artillery.
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| 205 (3 DVA) Battery RA restoration 2015 |
