English cannon

The first usage of cannon in Great Britain was possibly in 1327, when they were used in battle by the English against the Scots. Under the Tudors, the first forts featuring cannon batteries were built, while cannon were first used by the Tudor navy. Cannon were later used during the English Civil War for both siegework and extensively on the battlefield.

Cannon were first used abroad by the English during the Hundred Years War, when primitive artillery was used at the Battle of Crécy. With the Age of Discovery and the establishment of the Thirteen Colonies, cannon saw use in British armies in North America, first against the rival colony of New France, and later during the American Revolutionary War. From the 18th century to the present day, the Royal Regiment of Artillery has formed the artillery of the British Army. The Royal Navy developed the carronade in the 18th century, although they disappeared from use in the 1850s. As with other western cannon of the period, cannon used by the British Army and the Royal Navy became longer ranged and more destructive in the 19th and 20th centuries.

English cannon saw its first use during the Hundred Years War, being used in small numbers during the 1340s. "Ribaldis" were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the Battle of Crécy between 1345 and 1346. These are believed to have shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot, but they were so important they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe. According to the contemporary poet Jean Froissart, the English cannon made "two or three discharges on the Genoese", which is taken to mean individual shots by two or three guns because of the time taken to reload such primitive artillery. Similar cannon appeared at the Siege of Calais later the same year and by the 1380s, the "ribaudekin" had become mounted on wheels.

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