Captured Great War German Gun

Written by Angela Gooch on January 7th, 2008 in Town evolution.

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Source: Skegness News 1923

This news story gives account of a German Gun which was captured in the Great War, and the problems its siting caused in the Skegness Council chamber.
As yet, I know nothing more about the gun, which I visulise to be some sort of cannon, or if indeed it still exists. I’ve certainly not seen anything in Skegness that resembles it but you can rest assured it is on our list of ‘further investigations’.

THE GUN
The town’s cherished possession “the German Gun”, once again came before the committee. The discussion upon it was remarkable for its brevity (nobody seemed keen to make a speech) and, on the whole, the gun was not taken seriously.

The Chairman: The gum is still in the yard. Can we get rid of it? Coun Haley said that Coun Jessap was in the Chamber, and the Chairman might ask if he had heard from the Skegness Ex-Service Men’s Club, as to their wishes for the future of the gun.
Coun Jessap replied that he was present merely as an interested ratepayer.
He, had not received an answer from the Ex-Servicemen.
The Clerk said he had received no reply from the Ex-Service Men’s Club, though his department had sent one or two letters.Coun Haley humorously suggested
that they should give the gun to Mr Freeman if he would guarantee to take it away.
Coun. Holmes - Or you could sell it as scrap.
Coun Haley - We can’t do that.
AT LAST A RESTING PLACE
The captured German gun, which so many members have been anxious to place at the bottom of the brick pit, has at last been allocated a permanent resting place. The matter came up for consideration at this meeting and the Chairman asked the Surveyor if he had any suggestion to make regarding a site.
The Surveyor drew the notice of the Council to the unmade roadway, leading from South Parade to the sea, and bordered on each side with a dilapidated fencing. It was his idea to have this made up to the level of the parade and in the centre for it to be widened by a circular area formed by slabs. The gun could stand in the circle facing east as the ex-service men desired, and it could be surrounded by shrubs and a fence, the path going on each side of it.
It would be in a similar position in respect of the pathway to the fountain in the Fountain Gardens, but in this case, the path would be the same level as the Parade.
Coun. Goodess thought that the gun should be placed at the entrance to theVine Walk or on Tennyson Green. He did not think that it should be placed on the front.
The Council, on the whole, thought the Surveyor’s site a very good one, and Coun Bycroft moved that the gun be placed there, as they could hardly improve on it.
There was no seconder at first, and then Coun Wood seconded on the grounds that the Council was tired of the gun question, and he wished to dispose of it.
Coun Goodess announced his intention of voting against. He thought they would soon look on such emblems of warfare as a barbarous method of settling disputes, and that it would not be long before they would remove the gun from the Foreshore.
The motion was carried, Couns, Bycroft, Clayton and Wood voting in favour, and Coun Goodess and S. Moody against.
The Clerk was instructed to inform the Ex-Service Men’s Club of their decision.

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Source: Skegness News 1924

The Homeless Gun

Not to go on South Parade, and no longer room at Pumping Station
German Gun is still homeless

When its fate trembled in the balance last year, and half the Council was in favour of getting rid of it, it was decided to ask the views of the Skegness ExServicemens Club. They asked for the gun to be placed in the Tower Gardens, facing east. It was impossible to accede to this request, as the Tower Gardens approaches were not strong enough to bear the weight of the gun.

The Surveyor (Mr. R., H. Jenkins) suggested that the gun should he placed in the centre of the new pullover (near Serena Road) leading from the South Parade to the sea and facing east. This was agreed to by the Council, as it was felt that it would conform to the spirit of the, Ex-Service Men’s request. The Surveyor’s final plans for the site included the provision of a high, shrub-covered bank, to hide the gun from the South Parade.

PETITION FROM SOUTH PARADE
At the last monthly meeting of the Council, Coun. NA. Hudson presiding, the following Petition’ signed by 40 ratepayers on the South Parade, headed by Mr. and Mrs J and G. Hill and Mr Goodess, was read:—

To the Chairman and Members of the Skegness Urban District Council.
We, the undersigned residents of South Parade, Skegness, do protest against the placing of the German Gun on the South Parade front, and further do ask your Council to reconsider the matter, and rescind the resolution for the following reasons:

1/ Because it is not any ornament, but a most unsightly to look upon.
2/ That it is not worth the expense of moving. We believe that you have already spent over £8 in, moving this thing, and instead of wasting more of the ratepayers, money on
it, we earnestly request you to scrap it.
3/ Those who have lost relatives in the war don’t want this unsightly thing stuck in front of their windows to remind them of their loss. Visitors to Skegness who have lost boys do not want reminding of the fact by having this gun placed in such a prominent position, and we earnestly request that you will reconsider the whole question.

A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE

Coun Brueton said that the Council had proposed placing the gun just in front of the South Parade, and it would stand in front of a house occupied by a gentleman who had lost three sons in the war. That gentleman had told him that, if the gun were placed in this spot, it would drive his wife into the asylum. He (the speaker) appealed to them that they could never have a thing like that on their consciences.

Let the gun stand in its present position or let them sell it. He would move that it be sold.
Coun. Gregory seconded, observing that the ratepayers diet want an ugly thing like the gun on the front.
EX-SERVICE MEMBERS VIEWS.
Conn Jessap expressed the opinion that the gun ought to be kept. He did not think, however, that it should be kept in front of the house of a man whose wife would be certainly upset by it, and, in that respect, he was in sympathy with the petition, and felt that the South Parade was the wrong place.

On the other hand, he did think that the gun should be kept as a relic. The matter had been referred to the Skegness Ex-Service Men’s Club, and they had decided unanimously that the gun ought to be kept, and, had suggested a site.

It had not been possible to put the gun on that site, and the South Parade position had been suggested instead He moved, as an amendment, that the gun be kept, but mot on the South Parade.
Coun Crawshaw seconded.
A RELIC.
Coun Sweeten reminded the Council that, when they applied to the War Office for relics at the end of the war, a trench mortar was sent down to them. They sent in back, as they did not consider it worthy of the town.

They wanted a “Big Gun,” and they got a “Big Gun. (The Chairman: It’s not big enough, Doctor). They had got it and he could not see why there should be any real objection to it. It was one of the few things left to shew that they had beaten Germany. All over the country these relics were being kept and in years to come, they would be regarded in a very different light. There were, indeed 40 signatories to the petition, but they did not represent the whole of Skegness.

Coun Holmes said that he would support the motion that the gun be sold. He believed that when they got it there were only a few of the Councillors who really wanted it.Coun
Dutton held the same view as Coun. Jessap about parting with the gun but he was in sympathy with Brueton as far as it concerned the local, ratepayers. He did not think that the gun should’ be put on the South Parade.
Coun. Brueton remarked that there was a serious view to take. Inasmuch as in the event of another war that gun on the front would give an unscupulous enemy the excuse to call the place a fortified town and bombard it.
By six votes to five it was decided that the council should keep the gun.

Coun Gregory: We shall not put it on the South Parade?
The Chairman: No.
Coun. S. Moody: I propose that it remains where it is for twelve months.
The Surveyor explained that that was impossible, as the space which the gun occupied, at the pumping station was required for the new oil tanks.
Coun. Haley: Send it down to Sewage Works. (Laughter).
The matter then dropped.

Skegness’s Trophy Where Shall it be Placed? Fate Still in the Balance

pumping station skegness

Photo: The pumping Station, Richmond Drive, Skegness. Picture by Paul Gooch.

Coun Thornton, who was last night elected to the Chairmanship of the Sanitary Committee, had the unenviable, task at his first meeting in that capacity of dealing with the question of the German Gun.

There were present in addition to the Chairman, Couns W Hudson, J.P., D C Haley, G E Holmes, Jos. Crawshaw and C P Brueton.

The Committee was inclined to take the matter somewhat light-heartedly which probably, camouflaged an utter weariness of the subjecr. Some of Coun. Haley’s suggestions were humorous rather than serious.
The matter arose as a consequence of the petition of the South Parade householders, against the placing of the gun on the South Parade, being recommended to the Sanitary Committee. The only reason why it should be the Sanitary Committee is that the gun stands at present on property controlled by that Committee, and the’ Committee needs the space for other purposes.
The Clerk (Mr. W Frearson) said that the Council had passed a resolution that the gun should be kept, and the question for the Committee to decide was where to put it.

Coun Holmes moved that it be left in the hands of the Chairman of the a Gas Committee,
Coun Halley: How about the Chair of the Water Committee. (Laughter).

The Chairman asked Coun Brueton if he wished to make a resolution, and the latter replied that he had moved at the Council meeting that the gun be sold, and his motion was defeated. He did not wish to make, any other proposition.
Coun Haley: Why not put it on Tennyson Green?
Coun Sweeten: What does the Council intend to do with Tennyson Green?
Coun Haley: Let the children play on it.

After Tennyson Green had been disposed of, the Surveyor suggested that, if the townspeople did not want to see the gun, it should be placed on the triangular piece of ground at the Junction of Wainfleet Road and Wath Lane.

He considered that they should decide definitely where they were going to put the gun and keep it there. Up to the present time, this indecision had cost the Council about £120.

First there were the street costs on the triangular piece of ground at the entrance to Richmond Drive, which had been given to the Council by Lord Scarbrough expressly as a site fur the gun; the cost of moving the gun to the depot, and the cost of making up the pullover at South Parade to the Parade level.
Coun Sweeten: What is the matter with the Gardens?
The Chairman explained that the gun could not he placed in the Tower Gardens without great damage to the pathways over which it would have to be taken. He considered the Surveyor’s suggestion was a very good one.
Coun Haley : Put it outside the Hildreds. (Laughter)
Coun Holmes: Why not sell it for scrap, and pay its expenses.
Coun Haley suggested that the gun should be returned to its old site at the entrance to Richmond Drive.

The Chairman: Why was it moved from there?
Coun Holmes: It was moved at the time of the Agricultural Show, when there was exceptional traffic down Richmond Drive.

The Chairman: And if we had another show it would have to be moved again. It should be placed in its final position this time.

A suggestion was made that the gun should be left in its present position at the pumping station.
The Surveyor replied that would be impossible; indeed, the ground where the gun stood would be required for the new fuel system in a fortnight.
Coun Haley proposed that the Chairman and the Surveyor visit Wath Lane and view the site with regard to its suitability.
Coun Sweeten: It is a dangerous place to have the gun, especially as far as the ‘bus traffic is concerned.
Coun Haley: I will move it be returned to its original place in Lumley Square, then.
Conn. Sweeten That is more dangerous still.
Coun Sweeten contended that the Sanitary Committee was not the proper Committee to have to decide on the future of the gun.

The matter was only referred to that Committee because the gun unfortunately happened to stand on the Sanitary Committee’s land.

He considered that the Council was fine proper body to decide the question and he accordingly moved that the matter be referred to the monthly meeting of the Council.
Coun Hudson seconded and the motion was approved.