At the heart of the Royal Artillery Museum is our collection of nearly 1,000 artillery pieces, including field guns, howitzers, mortars and self-propelled artillery. There are examples from around the world spanning the development of artillery from the Middle Ages to the present day. Many of these pieces saw service with the Royal Artillery, while others reflect important advances in technology, mobility and firepower.
These pieces range in size from the tiny fifteenth-century Chinese T’ung to the 18-inch Railway Howitzer on proof carriage at a combined weight of around 200 tons. The weapons used by the Royal Artillery are well represented, from the smooth-bore muzzle loading guns of the 1700s through to the AS90 and L118 Light Gun that are still in service to this day. There are also experimental pieces that never went into service, such as the huge Green Mace anti-aircraft gun, and the Garrington Gun with its highly distinctive “shell” intended to protect the operators from nuclear fallout.
