Here's the latest in our Rewind series - this time we feature a cannonball from the English Civil War - with thanks to the brilliant North Herts Museum.

............

Who'd have thought you could find a cannonball in quiet Hitchin?

It's a type that was used in the 1640s, during the English Civil War.

As a town that held for Parliament against the King, it had a small garrison in case of trouble.

Mount Garrison, off Hollow Lane, probably takes its name from the troops stationed in the town.

We do not know of any skirmishes that happened in this area, so the cannonball probably wasn't fired in anger, despite another ball having been found close by in Verulam Road.

Perhaps an empty field east of the town was used for training and practice by the town's garrison.

We can date the cannon ball because it fits in a gun of a very specific bore that was used only during the 1640s.

Visit North Herts Museum and cafe

HITCHIN NUB NEWS REWIND SERIES

Rewind: On this day in 1813 Hitchin icon Henry Bessemer was born - find out more

REWIND The Hitchin Riots: A very Middle Class affair

REWIND Frank Young VC: 'We will remember them' - the story of Hitchin's Victoria Cross

REWIND The Hitchin - Stevenage experiment that led to a Nobel Prize

[L]https://hitchin.nub.news/n/rewind-the-day-the-graf-zeppelin-flew-over-hitchin-town39s-top-field-on-route-to-watch-arsenal-vs-huddersfield-in-1930-fa-cup-final-at-wembley[L+]REWIND: The day the Graf Zeppelin flew over Hitchin Town's Top Field

REWIND Saved from a skip - an evocative black and white photograph on Nightingale Road from early 1900s