"What are 'Sling Peeces'?" Topic

Dear all, at the English Civil War siege of Pontefract Castle the defenders used a "sling peece" to fire into the besiegers lines. It sounds like a piece of wall mounted artillery. Does anyone have any ideas of what a "sling peece" was? Thanks for any help

John

Would it be a light gun slung between poles (two slings, four poles) to enable it to be discharged from a parapet without the gun rolling back over the side, as it would do if mounted on wheels

A cod-piece stretched between two sticks to fling objects with? Does sound like a prosthetic post scrotal surgery.

I think I remember reading of them at Lathom House and at one of the forts on the Isle of Man too. Not 100% clear but drusty's idea sounds interesting if a little worrying. I like brucka's as I'd thought that perhaps they were catapults of some sort. But it doesn't seem so: There are reference in the Ormond papers -

Warrant to the master of the ordnance : to cause to be delivered to Sir Mathew Appleyard, governor of the fort of Charlemont, for the defence of that fort and use of the garrison there, one demiculverin, one saker, two minions brass and all mounted, four small drakes and one sling piece, without carriages, to be chosen by the said governor out of his majesty's ordnance at Carrickfergus

And

Iron sling pieces.
With a chamber—unserviceable 1
Petard of brasse, fixed—serviceable 3

This from a website selling repro artillery apparently-
link "16th-17th century swivel gun aka port-piece, sling- piece, base-piece, murderer. This cannon is breechloading. Used like a large shotgun. This piece is 6 feet long."

So it looks as if they are some variety of wall-mounted swivel gun.

I don't quite understand the 'Petard of brasse' reference as I thought the petard was a bell-shaped container for explosives that was affxed to an offending door that one needed disposing of. (As someone wrote here before 'operated by a pair of lucky lucky chaps who are about to earn themselves a shiny silver shilling each').

Maybe they broke out the old trebuchet…

A 'sling' was a gun with a forge welded iron barrel with additional iron hoops shrunk on, built into a sold wooden carriage and having a separate breech. Usually used to fire stone shot or later cannister. Some of the ones from the Mary Rose are huge, running around 6 inch bore and 12 feet barrel length.

The Dutch East Indiamen were using similar pieces well into the 1600's, with a rolled copper bore tube, iron rings over that and a thin decorative copper jacket filled with lead to make it look like a solid bronze gun, but only used to fire grape or cannister and without the separate breech – they have one sectioned in the old section of the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, Western Australia.

So for gaming purposes you could use either an 'old fashioned' stave built tube with separate breech piece, prossibly fitted to a more 'modern' carriage, or just use another standard field piece but only allow it to use cannister/langridge/grape

thanks gents