Image credit: No Swan So Fine / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2022-08-24 ↗
Nine Cannon Bollards
Hampstead · Hampstead · Expansion route discovery
Story
Cannon Lane features one of Hampstead’s most unusual collections of street furniture: nine cannons repurposed as bollards. These are not modern posts merely designed to resemble artillery; rather, they are a practical example of reusing military objects past their prime. Historic England identifies two cannon-type bollards, dating from the early nineteenth century, at the southern end of the lane, and seven genuine late-eighteenth-century naval cannons of varying types and calibres at the northern end. Reusing cannons as bollards was not unique to London, but their concentration here is exceptional, and the street name, Cannon Lane, makes the discovery feel almost too perfectly aligned. The pleasure lies in counting and comparing them. Their proportions, muzzles, and profiles vary because they were never manufactured as a uniform set of urban furniture. These are military objects that acquired an utterly ordinary second life: controlling carriage or vehicle traffic and protecting entrances and edges. This reuse transforms Cannon Lane into a small, open-air collection of naval archaeology, discreetly embedded among residential houses.
What to look for
Walk the length of the lane and count the bollards. Note how their muzzles, diameters, and profiles vary; this lack of uniformity is a clue to their history.
Secret detail
Seven of the nine bollards are genuine late-eighteenth-century naval cannons, not merely decorative copies or cannon-shaped posts.
Where exactly
The nine bollards are distributed along Cannon Lane: two cannon-type bollards at the southern end and seven naval cannons at the northern end.
Orientation
Walk the full length of Cannon Lane from south to north to ensure you see both groups of bollards.
Why it matters
This lane transforms obsolete naval weapons into everyday street furniture, creating a peculiar piece of military archaeology integrated into an ordinary residential public space.
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