2-995-854 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Mons Meg", Edinburgh Castle, 1860. 'This gigantic piece of artillery...was constructed (so Black's Guide to Edinburgh informs us) by Scottish artisans...and called Mollance, or Mons, after the blacksmith who cast it, and Meg after his wife, whose voice is said to have rivalled that of her namesake...The following particulars relating to Meg are from "Chambers' Gazetteer of Scotland": "In March, 1829, an addition was made to the curiosities of the Castle by the restoration of a very ancient piece of ordnance called Mons Meg, which had been removed...in 1754. This gun, which is composed of long bars of beat iron, hooped together by a close series of rings, measuring twenty inches in the bore, is supposed to have been fabricated under the auspices of James II., who, in 1498, employed it at the siege of Norham Castle, on the border of England. It was rent in 1682 when firing a salute to James, Duke of York, and, though now quite useless, it is still held in high estimation by the Scotch, as a curious relic of the taste of one of their ancient and favourite Kings." The balls for Meg, at the castle, are made of Galloway granite, a strong presumptive proof that the gun is of Galloway origin. In circumference these stone balls measure 4 ft. 9 in'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.