The Mystery of the Monmouth Cannons: Part 1

From Tauranga City Library’s archives

A monthly blog about interesting items in our collections.

Postcard, Taumatakahawai Pā (Monmouth Redoubt) c. 1910s.
Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī ref 06-519

While sorting through our files relating to the 1990 Monmouth Redoubt restoration project, we came across this original letter dated 21st of March 1914 (also published in the Bay of Plenty Times) from Colonel G. Arnold Ward, Former Mayor of Tauranga, regarding the origin of the old guns in the Monmouth Redoubt.

Letter from Colonel Arnold G. Ward to the Tauranga Town Clerk, 1914.
Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, VF CCR.

In his letter to the Tauranga Town Clerk, Ward recounts the history of the six guns displayed in the redoubt, comprising of four field guns that “had done good service here in the Maori war”, as well as two much older cast muzzleloader guns.

The four “field guns” were 6-pounder rifled breech-loading Armstrong guns, two of which may have been present at the Battle of Pukehinahina (Gate Pā) (Osborne, 2014, para. 5). Following their years of service with the militia and later the Armed Constabulary (whose headquarters had been located on the redoubt), the guns had been made obsolete and placed into storage by the Defence Department - until 1899 when Mayor Ward requested that they be returned to Tauranga and displayed in the Monmouth Redoubt, as part of an initiative to convert the site into a public reserve (Kean, 2019, p. 13-15).

Print, Photographic, Armstrong Gun, Monmouth Redoubt, Tauranga, c. 1910s.
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, ref 0488/08

The two older guns mentioned by Ward were cast iron Napoleonic war cannons (more specifically carronades) dating to the early 1800s, which had been gifted to the Tauranga Borough Council in 1899 by Captain A. C. Turner and Mr. A. W. Burrows, in order to “add interest to the redoubt”. However, Ward admits, “their history I do not know and do not think their former owners knew it either”. 

Munitions on display at Taumatakahawai Pā (Monmouth Redoubt), Tauranga c. 1910s.
Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī ref 10-161

Unlike the Armstrong guns, neither of the cannons had any known connections to the redoubt. The Burrows cannon, named Tawakeheimoa (named after the eldest son of Ngāti Kererū), is now confirmed to be one of early trader Phillip Tapsell’s twelve “big guns” used to protect his trading station at Maketu Pā, until it's capture in 1836 (Kean, 2018, p. 20). Indeed, in his letter Ward points to Tapsell as a possible original source of the Burrows gun (Ward, 1914).

Cannon, Tawakeheimoa.
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection, ref 0017/99

The cannon donated by Captain Turner, known today as Te Tapihana, is also suspected to have come from Tapsell’s battery due to its similarity to the other Tapsell cannons (Matheson, 1989, p. 9). However, its provenance is by no means certain, since accounts about what happened to Tapsell's battery following the capture of Maketū Pā vary, making it difficult for us to verify the history of the guns (see Matheson, 1989, for a full discussion). 

One of the other cannons from Tapsell's battery, Maketū, c. 1970s.
Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī ref 06-137 

During restoration efforts at the redoubt in the 1990s there was some discussion as to whether the cannons ought to remain in Tauranga or be sent back to Maketū (Hansen, 1998, letter). In the end the council opted to keep the cannons, as by that point in time they had become an important part of Tauranga's history (Matheson, n.d., personal communications).

Te Tapihana Cannon, Monmouth Redoubt, 2024.
Private Collection, Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries. 

These days only Te Tapihana remains on display in the redoubt. Tawakeheimoa now resides in the care of the Tauranga Heritage Collection, as do three of the Armstrong guns – the remaining Armstrong gun can be found on display at the National Army Museum in Waiouru.

6-Pounder 3-cwt Armstrong RBL Gun Barrel, carriage is a modern reconstruction.
Display depicts a scene from the Battle of Pukehinahina (Gate Pā).
Image courtesy of National Army Museum, Waiouru.

Stay tuned! The mysterious history of the Tapsell cannons will continue in next month's blog post.

For more images of the Monmouth cannons in the Library Archives click here. 

Sources:

    'Guns at the Redoubt'. (1914, 27 March). Bay of Plenty Times, p. 3.    

    Hansen, N. G. (30 January 1998). Letter to Tauranga District Council. Old Carronades at the Domain and on Monmouth Redoubt. Tauranga City Council Records (unpublished).

    Kean, F. (2018). Illustrated Historical Overview, Monmouth Redoubt, Lot 247, Section 1, Tauranga Town. Tauranga Heritage Collection (unpublished).

    Kean, F. (2019). History. In Walter, L., Greig, K. Monmouth Redoubt Historic Reserve Conservation Plan, September 2019. InSitu Heritage Ltd. (Tauranga City Council). 

    Matheson, A. (May 1989). Tapsell’s Big Guns. Journal of Tauranga Historical Society, No 37. Pp. 1-11.

    Matheson, A. (n.d.). Personal communication. Old Carronades in the Domain & Redoubt (and Historic Village). Tauranga City Council Records (unpublished).

    Osborne, J. (April 2014). Context: The Tauranga Campaign of 21 January 1864 to 21 June 1864 by John Osborne. Originally published on Tauranga Memories. Retrieved from https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz. 

Ward, G. A. (21 March, 1914). "Old guns in redoubt". [Letter from Colonel G. Arnold Ward to the Town Clerk, Tauranga]. Collection of Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries, VF CCR. 

For more information about this and other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage & Research Team: research@tauranga.govt.nz

Written by Rose Chalklen, Heritage and Research Specialist at Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries.