Just recently one of our neighbours dug up what appears to be a cannon ball (see photos below) from her garden in Denny, located to the west of Falkirk and south of Stirling in central Scotland.

The object is definitely spherical measuring about 3 inches in diameter and weighing just over 2½ pounds, hence the assumption it is a cannon ball. What we are unsure of is the possible date for it and how it came to be where it was found... so any info that could help would be much appreciated!

We have a couple of possible explanations for this cannon ball being where it was found; I'm not going to pretend either of these is actually what happened, but until someone comes up with a better explanation these will have to do:

1. In 1645, a battle took place at Kilsyth (about 5 miles west of Denny) and, as far as I know, one of the opposing armies approached the site of the battle from Alloa via Stirling. Its likely this army would have gone round, rather than over, the Kilsyth Hills, so they probably headed roughly south from Stirling (possibly following the old Roman Road through Torwood) which would have taken them roughly through the area where Denny town (and our house) now stands.

2. In 1746 another battle took place, this time in Falkirk to the east of Denny. This time one of the armies (Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobites) approached from the west; they came from Glasgow in two columns: one column came through Cumbernauld and then headed towards Bannockburn; the second column came via Kilsyth and also headed towards Bannockburn. Either (or more likely) both these columns of men could have passed through the Denny area.

So, either of the above scenarios (or even another incident of troop movements in the area) could have resulted in a cannon ball being dropped/left along the way in the rough vicinity of our neighbour's back garden. As I said above, there could be another explanation especially as there have been a number of iron foundries in the area, the most famous of which was the Carron Company just outside Falkirk and about 3 miles or so from Denny; this company produced a small cannon, known as a carronade, in the 18th and 19th centuries tho I'm not sure what the bore of these was (we'll have to take a run up to Carron to check!) While there were also iron foundries in Denny itself, I don't know if any of these produced any form of armaments!