A nineteenth century cannon has been put on public display as part of an effort to regenerate an area of Portland.

Bill Reeves, the chief executive of Portland Port, loaned the cannon to care provider Agincare, so that the item could be displayed in the Castletown area of the island.

Derek Luckhurst, the owner of Agincare, hopes that the canon will be yet another attraction in the area which will help bring visitors to Castletown to boost the local economy. 

Mr Luckhurst has been working on various initiatives over the last few years to revitalise Castletown.

Mr Reeves said: “We respect what Derek is doing with the Castletown area and we are delighted to help in the small way we can by loaning the cannon.”

He added: “Considering its age and considering it was used as a mooring bollard it is in pretty good shape.”

The cannon is a Mark III Rifled, Muzzle Loading (RML) 64-pounder gun and was made in Woolwich Arsenal in London around 1875. 

It was manufactured from a wrought iron tube and weighs 3.3 tonnes, with its gun having an effective range of 4.6km.

It was one of the first rifle barrel canons, which meant it had a longer range than previous cannons.

Mr Reeves added: “It fired a form of shell rather than a cannon ball.”

In a historic technical innovation, the rifle spins the projectile, meaning it could travel much further than if it was shot straight out of the barrel.

Mr Luckhurst said: “When it was used it was part of the defence of Portland Naval Base. It was one of a number of guns placed to defend the surrounding area from a naval attack.”

At the end of its service, the cannon was buried on the inner breakwater quayside to be used as a bollard for mooring ships against, but it was recently recovered and restored by Portland Port.

Mr Luckhurst was delighted that the cannon is now on display next to Crabbers Wharf and the Castletown D-Day Centre.

He said: “I am very grateful for the continued support shown by Portland Port and this latest gesture is an important part of Portland’s history and is now on public display.”

“There are some cannons in Portland Port, but they are not on public display.” 

Mr Luckhurst hopes that the cannon will complement some of the other significant historic artefacts in Castletown, such as an 18th century mooring anchor and a 20th century torpedo, and help make the area a destination for tourists.