{"id":2505,"date":"2015-11-28T16:31:59","date_gmt":"2015-11-28T16:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2505"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:22:13","slug":"famous-naas-cannon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/famous-naas-cannon\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMOUS NAAS CANNON"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER LEADER<\/em> 13 August 1998<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

JOAN WALSH <\/strong><\/p>\n

An eleventh hour intervention by local historians has saved the town\u2019s best known military land-mark- for the time being. As former, Leader <\/em>journalist Liam Kenny was galvanising support for his, appeal to save the cannon at soon-to-be closed Devoy Barracks the army was preparing to have the historic piece of artillery transferred to the Curragh.<\/p>\n

The cannon was earmarked to repose in front of the command headquarters of the officers mess \u201con instruction of the GOC of the Curragh.\u201d Army spokesman Comdt. John Ryan said; \u201cThe decision is made. Of course there are many possibilities but the feeling it is should be placed in the Curragh.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, historians bitterly annoyed over the sudden move immediately swung into action. \u201cThis should be kept as a memento to the military tradition in Naas which goes back to the early 1800\u2019s,\u201d insisted an angry Liam Kenny. \u201cIt has been in Naas for over 100 years and it should stay there. I know that local historians around Naas would be of the same view,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He recalled how in his own schooldays, \u201cthe cannon in the barracks was always a topic of conversation. \u201cGiven that the barracks was closed to the outside world it was the most public symbol of the barracks in Naas.<\/p>\n

UDC chairman Cllr. Paddy Behan lent his support to the campaign by lobbying the Defence Minister. \u201cIt seems the Department of Defence knew nothing about the move,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe have asked for a stay to be put on it until we enter into meaningful discussions.<\/p>\n

According to Liam Kenny\u2019s research the cannon is a survivor of the Crimean War of 1854-56. It was cast in a foundry in Russia in 1831 and carries on it Cyrillic script and a double headed eagle of Imperial Russia. It weighs about two tonnes. The cannon came to Naas in 1956 when the barracks was reopened to house the Apprentice School.<\/p>\n

Said Mr. Kenny: \u201cthe fact remains that this spectacular landmark of the military presence in Naas has been a feature of the town for at least forty years. It would be fitting memorial to the military presence in Naas stretching back through many generations and recall for the example the local men who served in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the many who rallied to the flag and served in the Army during the Emergency area as well as the great Naas involvement in the LDF and the FCA.<\/p>\n

He said it would also act as a permanent link between the Army Apprentice School and the town of Naas where the school had it origins. \u201cThe cannon would have been brought to Naas like many of the cannons captured in the Crimean War by the British army as trophies of war,\u201d explained Liam. Devoy Barracks itself was built in 1813 at a cost of \u00a317,900 with accommodation for over 300 men which rose to 500 around the time of the First World War.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER LEADER 13 August 1998\u00a0 JOAN WALSH An eleventh hour intervention by local historians has saved the town\u2019s best known military land-mark- for the time being. As former, Leader journalist Liam Kenny was galvanising support for his, appeal to save the cannon at soon-to-be closed Devoy Barracks the army was preparing to have the historic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-history"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7959,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions\/7959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}