Portencross Castle, Cannon

NS14NE 3 1756 4890

See also NS14NE 2 and NS14SE 8001.

An iron cannon, about 8ft long, traditionally from 'one of the large ships of the Spanish Armada which sank in about ten fathoms of water at no great distance from the shore' was recovered from the sea in 1740 and now lies at Portencross. Hewitt, after examining various accounts, concludes that the gun is either of late 16th or 17th century design, and is almost certainly Spanish. The remains of the ship that carried it lie somewhere between the point and Little Cumbrae. Although not necessarily a member of the Armada, as the Spanish navy was frequently in Scottish waters after 1588, it could be that the wreck was of a ship listed as 'fate unknown' by Philip's officials.

NSA 1845; G R Hewitt 1967.

NS 1756 4890. A much-rusted iron cannon, bearing an indecipherable coat of arms, lies on the beach 10.0m SE of Portencross Castle (NS14NE 2).

Visited by OS (DS) 12 September 1956

No change to the previous report. The cannon, 2.3m long with central pivot rods, rests on stone paving.

Visited by OS (JRL) 18 November 1982

In 1989, the [former] Archaeological Diving Unit examined the alleged 'Armada period' gun on display outside Portencross Castle. It was considered to be of late 17th or early 18th century date, rather than of the Armada period.

NMRS, MS/5540 (ADU report 043, dated 17 July 1989.

This cannon is no longer at Hunterson.

Information from Fiona McLean (Edinburgh University), 28 November 2006.

Re-sited 1990 to location outside administrative offices of Hunterston Power Station (NS15SE 28). Other discoveries probably from the same wreck are held in the McLean Museum, Greenock.

(Undated) information in NMRS.