History of Seaham - Stories and remarkable and memorable events in the history of Seaham Seaham and World War 2 Russian cannon moved from Terrace Green to Council yard (1940)
Inauguration of the cannon on Terrace Green in 1858
Illustrated London News 28th August 1858
Whatever happened to the Russian Cannon on the Terrace Green?
The cannon was gifted to Seaham Harbour after the Crimean War by Queen Victoria. It was erected on a stone plinth on the Terrace Green overlooking the sea There it stood until 1940 when it was removed during the early part of World War 2.
In its place was erected a pub with no beer. “The Green Man” pub was in fact, an observation post with a false front designed to confuse the enemy during the war. It stood in front of the present war memorial and behind the pub doors lay an army depot with ammunition and the observation post. However, it is reported that it did not fool the enemy as Lord Haw Haw apparently made a comment about the Green Man in his regular radio broadcasts from Germany.
The Russian cannon was on the Terrace Green for more than eighty years. Captured during the Crimean War it was similar in size to the British 64-pdr. It was a muzzle loader and from its iron carriage it can be deduced to be a garrison gun probably captured at Sebastopol. This engraving of the inauguration of the gun on the Terrace Green hung in the the Londonderry Offices for many years.
But what happened to this five-and-a-half-ton gun? Read on...
Sunderland Echo 9th August 1940
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