page_title: Mons Meg
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Mons Meg / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: A boy inside the barrel of the Mons Meg cannon at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. Picture taken with a Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor 54/2 camera. Digitized from 120 film negative.
context_page_description: Mons Meg is a medieval bombard in the collection of the Royal Armouries, but on loan to Historic Scotland and located at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. It has a barrel diameter of 20 inches making it one of the largest cannons in the world by calibre.
  Mons Meg was built in 1449 on the orders of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and sent by him as a gift to James II, King of Scots, in 1454. The bombard was employed in sieges until the middle of the 16th century, after which it was only fired on ceremonial occasions. On one such occasion in 1680 the barrel burst, rendering Mons Meg unusable. The gun remained in Edinburgh Castle until 1754 when, along with other unused weapons in Scotland, it was taken to the Tower of London. Sir Walter Scott and others campaigned for its return, which was effected in 1829. Mons Meg has since been restored, and is now on display within the castle.
context_section_description: The bombard was manufactured from longitudinal bars of iron, hooped with rings fused into one mass. The barrel is attached to the powder chamber by means of a groove on the powder chamber into which lugs on the end of the barrel staves fit, and then bound permanently together by the hoops.  The powder chamber itself is made from small pieces of iron hammer-welded together to make a solid wrought-iron forging. Mons Meg has a diameter of 19 inches (480 mm), one of the highest ever built, weighs 15,366 pounds (6,970 kg) and is 15 feet (4.6 m) in length.
  The final cost of the gun was £1,536.
caption: The cannon is wide enough to contain a child.
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