One Hull Of A Story: The Phantom Cannons Of Hull

Hull has strong connection to English Civil War (1642-1651). Most folk in the city know that it was a stand-off at the gates of Hull that was one of the main incidents that sparked the civil war. When Sir John Hotham, the military governor appointed by Parliament to Hull, refused to let Charles and his men into the city to collect the armaments he had deposited there. The stand-off at Hull could be seen as the first victory against the royalists, in a war that would eventually see the parliamentarians lead by Oliver Cromwell, victorious. Again most folks in Hull also know that the "plot" to turn Charles away from the gates of Hull, was hatched in what is now called the Plotting Parlour. A small room upstairs in Ye Olde White Harte pub, on Silver Street in the heart of what is now the city's old town.

By 1658 the civil had been over 4 years. In the February of that year Cromwell had dissolved Parliament, amid fears of a Royalist uprising. In the September of that same year Cromwell was dead, and his son Richard Cromwell had taken over as Lord Protector. Tensions were still running high, and in the atmosphere of imminent war, there was a strange and still unexplained occurrence in and around Hull.

Charles I Demanding Entrance at the Beverley Gate, Hull, 23rd April 1642 by George Arnald (1819)

The mysterious incident is known as "The Phantom Cannons Of Hull", when the sound of warfare was clearly heard by hundreds of people in Hull and the surrounding countryside. In addition, on what was a clear and cloudless day, the smoke of war rose-up and covered the city. Yet no-one saw any army, as there was no army. The sounds the witnesses heard can only be described as a "phantom", the ghost of war, and is best described by a contemporary report, that contains eye-witness statements of the time.

"The true relation of a strange and very wonderful thing that was heard in the air October 12th, 1658, by hundreds of people:

Now I come to relate the matter, the which was thus:

Upon the 12th day of October, in the afternoon, there was heard by some hundreds of people in Holderness, Hedon, and about Hull, and several other places in Yorkshire first, three great pieces of ordnance or cannons discharged in the air one after another, very terrible to hear, and afterwards immediately followed a peal of muskets. This shooting off of muskets continued about an half-quarter of an hour, drums beating all the while in the manner just as if two armies had been engaged. Such as heard the aforesaid cannons, muskets, and drums, do report that the sound was from the north-east quarter, and, to their thinking not far from the place where they stood.

Two men being together about six miles from Hull in Holderness, near Humber-side, supposed it was directly over Hull; whereupon one said to the other, "It being the sheriff’s riding-day at Hull, this peal of muskets must be there; and see (quoth he) how the smoke riseth !" Now the reason why he mentioned the smoke was, because no sooner was this noise finished over Hull, but (as it happeneth after the discharge of guns) there arose a very great smoke or thick mist round about the town, although immediately before (the day being very clear day, and the sun shining all the while bright) he saw the town very perfectly.

One thing more was observed by him who saw the smoke over Hull; that all the while this prodigious noise continued (which was as he supposed, about the eighth part of an hour), the face of the sky (as in the eclipse of the sun) waxed very dim; yea, such tremble and quake under him.

A certain gentleman, who had been some time a major in the war, as he was riding with a friend between the towns of Patterington and Ottringham, was so persuaded that some encounter by soldiers was on the other side of a small hill where they were riding, as that they could not but mount the hill to try the truth, so plainly did the drums beat and the muskets go off, and, to their thinking, so near them, as either it must be a sign from heaven or a real battle hard by.

The country people were struck with such strange wonder and deep terror, that they gave over their labour, and ran home with fear; yea, some poor people gathering coals by the seaside were so frightened that they ran away leaving their sacks behind them. In conclusion: for the space of forty miles this fearful noise of cannons, muskets, and drums was heard all the country over."

Wenceslas Hollar's map of Hull, c. 1640 .

There is one more "cannon" based story of the period that relates to Hull. Held in Hull was one of the biggest cannons of the civil war period, that was capable of firing a 32lb cannonball. As with most cannons of the time, it had been named, and was known as Sweet Lips. Sweet Lips referred to a local Hull prostitute, who was said to be popular with men from both sides of the war. In fact Hull had a reputation for its ladies, as attested to in a contemporary rhyme of the period. "Oxford for learning, London for wit, Hull for women, and York for a tit." A "tit" being a slang term for a small horse. The cannon was taken from Hull by parliamentarians to be used in their siege of the royalist stronghold of Newark in 1646. After the royalists surrendered at Newark, all record of what happened to Sweet Lips have been lost to history. And nothing is known of what became of the cannon's namesake Sweet Lips the popular prostitute.

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