Do You Remember the One O'Clock Gun?

[kevin]

I remember hearing the gun as a child, both when I lived in Speke and Allerton. Also, when I was at school in Garston.

Inhabitants of the Wirral firing a gun towards Liverpool - why didn't we invade?

[Paddy]

After it went off it was habitual to ask adults the time dont ask me why

[burkhilly]

I remember the one o'clock gun very well. I was only a child in the 60s and lived in Liverpool 8 - where the sound was very loud and clear (or so I remember). What a shame it's gone - it should be revived.

[Paddy]

The dingle is still there

[tony parker]

I remember it well. As a kid living on Park Rd in the Dingle it used to make all the windows rattle when it went off.

Another great memory of living close to the river was hearing the horns all going off at midnight on New Years eve.

you had to live whitin the sound of the gun to be a scouser

[skgogosfan]

This One O'Clock Gun is located at the waterfront, at the Northern end of Morpeth Dock. It is surrounded by fencing, but when I passed, the gate was open. After travelling a little bit North, I had to move inland to avoid Twelve Quays. I think normally, you have to turn inland just before this fence and follow the edge of the Morpeth Dock.

Thanks for those pix-what's also interesting is that the plinth it's on is not solid,it's clearly hollow,as there is a door in the pics. I wonder what's inside? Cannonballs? .

Dave.

[Ronijayne]

Very cool. We had to be back in school after lunch at 1.30pm so when the gun went off we knew it was time to get ready to walk back there.

[Ronijayne]

After it went off it was habitual to ask adults the time dont ask me why

Did they tell you??

[wsteve55]

Thanks for those pix-what's also interesting is that the plinth it's on is not solid,it's clearly hollow,as there is a door in the pics. I wonder what's inside? Cannonballs? .

Dave.

Maybe the guy who fires the gun!

[Partsky]

I remember the One Oclock Gun. I am 55 but when I was a kid I remember hearing it (in Fazakerley). Like so many people, memories are tied up with noises, smells and sights. I associate it with the smell and sight of Cherry blossoms from Formosa Drive School in Fazakerley. There used to be a carpet of blossoms on the ground during the Summer and my Brother and I loved to tramp through them. Even now, that intoxicating scent of the blossoms brings my childhood Summers right back to me.......... Being thick, we never caught on to what the faint but audible "bang" was whenever we were walking back to school from home. I wonder how far the sound carried? We could definitely hear it in Fazakerley, although faintly. It was only years later we understood it. I was quite sad. I thought it was something only we heard. I was quite disappointed when my Dad told me what it was!

[wsteve55]

I remember the One Oclock Gun. I am 55 but when I was a kid I remember hearing it (in Fazakerley). Like so many people, memories are tied up with noises, smells and sights. I associate it with the smell and sight of Cherry blossoms from Formosa Drive School in Fazakerley. There used to be a carpet of blossoms on the ground during the Summer and my Brother and I loved to tramp through them. Even now, that intoxicating scent of the blossoms brings my childhood Summers right back to me.......... Being thick, we never caught on to what the faint but audible "bang" was whenever we were walking back to school from home. I wonder how far the sound carried? We could definitely hear it in Fazakerley, although faintly. It was only years later we understood it. I was quite sad. I thought it was something only we heard. I was quite disappointed when my Dad told me what it was!

Come on,aren't you going to tell us what you thought it was?!

[Ronijayne]

According to my book of Liverpool Oddities, it was a gun to tell the clock makers the exact time each day to check their clocks and watches after they all became scattered. Seems at one point they were all together.

[Bernie]

According to my book of Liverpool Oddities, it was a gun to tell the clock makers the exact time each day to check their clocks and watches after they all became scattered. Seems at one point they were all together.

I don't know if it was the original purpose but ships used it to check the accuracy of their chronometers for navigation purposes.

[Ronijayne]

I don't know if it was the original purpose but ships used it to check the accuracy of their chronometers for navigation purposes.

Book says there were many clock and chronometer makers in Liverpool and it was for them but seems sensible the ships used it too.

[Oudeis]

Edinburgh still has it's one o' clock gun, fired from the castle.
[they now use a field gun rather than canon]