A battery of 21 brass one-pounder guns, on slightly later cast iron carriages. Made by Richard Gilpin and engraved by William Collins and Edmund Marshall at a cost of £102.7.6 to cast and manufacture and more than £7.7.0. each to engrave.

The guns are based on the then-current artillery bronze pattern, but with more elaborate decoration. They are of one-pounder calibre, 3 ½ feet in length and each of the 21 guns is numbered on the right trunnion. Each gun has a plain cascable with narrow fillet, around the vent are the lion and the unicorn with flags and military trophies. On the first reinforce is the royal coat of arms, with the Order of the Garter and flags. The dolphins of each gun are in the shape of true dolphins, with open mouths and eyes. The chase has the Prince of Wales‘s feathers and motto- Ich Dien - on a scroll. The engraving on the guns is particularly outstanding. The slightly later carriages are decorated with roses and bay leaves with the wheels having bundles of fasces and coiled ropes with lion faces on the axles. The coins have rosettes on the knobs. It is likely that the accessories on the steps to the royal library in the Round Tower belong to the battery, (despite the sponges having leather bags with 1 ½ pounder painted on rather than one). They consist of 21 sponges and rammers and worms and rammers.

Richard Gilpin was a brass and shot-founder at Stoney Street, Southwark, who supplied brass guns, mortars and howitzers to the Board of Ordnance and the English East India Company between 1751 and 1770 as well as operating an iron foundry where he cast round shot, truck wheels, shells and cast-iron fittings.

The guns were cast for George IV as a young boy, and presented on his sixth birthday in 1768. After the Prince’s 10th birthday, it was reported that: 21 small travelling carriages formerly made for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales have be sent from Richmond to the Tower to be repaired, but as the carriages are quite decayed they must be made new & that the Guns and elevating screws be wanted to be fresh fitted into the Carriages.

The guns eventually found a permanent home when George IV redeveloped Windsor Castle and the East Terrace was formed. However at least one appears to have been sent to the Royal Horse Armoury in the Tower of London since a drawing of it, dated 1828, exists in the Library at Windsor (RCIN 927558). The redisplay at Windsor may have been the occasion of providing the guns with new cast iron carriages by the Carriage Department in 1826.

Not everyone thought the cannons were an asset to the gardens; the horticultural writer, William Sawrey Gilpin (no relation to Richard) claimed that in his opinion the cannon that are placed along the East Terrace are quite out of character with the Flower Garden.

Published in Rynas Brown, R. 2010.“For the instruction and amusement”: guns for George, Prince of Wales. ICOMAM magazine No 4.