Church and Old Town Hall, Brading.

Every once in a while, Dr. Boli comes across a paragraph he wishes he had written himself. Here is another one, from the Wikipedia article on Brading (Isle of Wight). Because the Wikipedia article might always be edited at any moment, Dr. Boli preserves this paragraph here, so that it may last as long as the Internet.

The Town Gun

The town possesses a gun. It is a brass piece, made in 1549 by the Owine Brothers, John and Robert, so that the town might be defended from French invasion. The gun was never used in action, but was taken to the top of Brading Down in 1832 so that it could be fired to celebrate the passing of the Reform Bill. Unfortunately it exploded and split, putting a stop to celebrations for the day. In the 1950s, it was stolen from the “Gunne House” behind St. Mary’s Church and was found in a sale room in Kent. It was returned, however, not to the town, but to the Oglanders at Nunwell House, where it remains beneath Fanny Oglander’s bedroom window. The Town Trust has asked for it back, but Fanny Oglander has said that security arrangements should be improved and the matter remains unresolved.

The Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.