STREET SMARTS
HAVE you ever spotted some large, old-looking bollards in the street and wondered about the story behind them?
It turns out they have a very interesting history and it dates back to the 1800s.
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Historian Alice Loxton, who posts under @history_alice, uploaded a video which has racked up over 50,000 likes explaining the back story.
She wrote: “Cool bit of history!
“This may appear to be an ordinary London bollard but it actually has a pretty exciting past.
“It’s an old French cannon, probably from the late 18th century, and as the story goes, it was taken from ships which fought at Trafalgar in 1805.
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“The British certainly started to strip, captured French ships and reuse everything of value.
“But the French cannons that they found were too large to be retrofitted into British ships so they sent them back to London where some of them were used as street bollards.
“A neat way to flaunt the victory over the French.”
Alice explained that many of them had the cannonball pushed in at the top of the barrel to fill the gap.
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She continued: “The look worked so well on the London streets that even with all the original French cannons used up, replicas were made and the design exists to this day, complete with the rounded cannon shape at the top.
“This example is located on the river bank just a stone’s throw from the Shakespeare Globe Theatre.
“So do come and check it out when you’re next around.”
Many viewers were impressed with the historical fact, with one saying: “This is why I started following you I LOVE history like this!”
Another added: “this is very interesting.”
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