Weapons Cache Found

[Alan de Enfield]

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[RobD]

What surprises me is the mention of bayonets and swords!

[rhodders]

I can see why the regement would leave behind worn out barrels and stocks and perhaps the bayonets but not the swords, or perhaps the swords are of the old very long bayonets seen on the baker rifle and have been misidentified.

rhodders

[Thunderbox]

They were probably confiscated or captured weapons - it would have been common practice to burn & bury that sort of stuff. Issue military weapons would normally be backloaded to a depot.

[Terrylee]

To break your hearts. Another shot of the same cache!

[Thunderbox]

Apart from one or two Martini-Henrys, they seem to be remains of muzzle-loaders - judging by the tang on the end of most of the barrels.

[RobD]

Agree with Thunderbox. King Williams Town was not a site of Boer surrenders, so I imagine these were confiscated from the Xhosa after one of the frontier wars. Terry, what is the historical background to these?

[Surpmil]

Some Boer(?) Martinis there. The Boers did like them apparently. And there was I thinking it would be all Ludwig Loewe Mausers...looks more like muzzle loaders; Enfield 3 bands perhaps?

Looks like the nose cap of an early Lee carbine in the top left.

[rondog]

That's not a "cache", that's a grave. Destroyed and buried, not "cached" as in stored for future use. Bring in an electromagnet crane from a scrapyard, clear 'em all out in a few minutes, and get the project back underway.

[Terrylee]

Photo forwarded by a friend in who lives in that area. I am afraid that I have to agree with Rondog - just scrap!

I understand that these relics were buried when the British Army moved out in 1913. I expect that the "accumulated obsolete junk" of almost 100 years was then destroyed.

I am informed that Brown Bess, Brunswick, '53 Enfield, Snider, Martini, Lee Metford, Lee Enfield parts and also bayonets have been identified.