7-inch Mk-IV RML

Bore: 7-inch (RML)

Range: 5,500

In service: 1885-1904 (some remained on site after this)

Number in Service: 11

Imported in 1878, these guns were purchased following a war scare. When the fuss had died down, the guns were put in storage rather then being emplaced. With a new war scare in 1885, they were quickly put into place. Two were allocated to Auckland, three to Dunedin, three to Lyttelton and three to Wellington. They were declared obsolete in 1904, but several remained in their gun pits into the 1930s. An example can be seen at Albert Park in Auckland, two more intact examples are on private land near Oamaru, and gun barrels can be found at Newmarket in Auckland and TS Cornwall at Redcliffs, Christchurch.

Click the images to enlarge.

Description: This is the right hand 7" RML emplacement at Fort Ballance, shortly after construction, circa 1886

Reference: Gun emplacement at Fort Ballance, Wellington. Williams, Edgar Richard, 1891-1983: Negatives, lantern slides, stereographs, colour transparencies, monochrome prints, photographic ephemera. Ref: 1/2-140344-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22917815

Description: One of the two original 7-inch guns emplaced at Battery Point in 1885

Reference: DOC Christchurch/Post card club

Description: Lawyers Head Battery under construction, 1885

Reference: Coast defense gun, Lawyers Head, Dunedin. Field family :Field and Hodgkins family photographs. Ref: 1/2-105940-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23056557

Description: Gun emplacement being built. 1885

Reference: Coast defense gun, Saint Clair, Dunedin. Field family :Field and Hodgkins family photographs. Ref: 1/2-105939-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23199061

Description: Gun emplacement finished, 1880s

Reference: Hocken Library http://hockensnapshop.ac.nz/nodes/view/8579