That bollard on Grand Parade

You know the one. Did you realise it was a cannon? It made perfect sense the minute I read this page on the excellent Cork Past and Present website by Cork City Libraries, but not before!

Cork Past and Present: One of the most familiar pieces of street furniture in Cork is the old cannon gun made from cast iron which now serves as a bollard on the corner of the Grand Parade and Tuckey Street near Bishop Lucey Park. The cannon gun has been dated to the reign of George III of England who reigned from 1760 to 1820. It may have been used as a mooring post for boats in the days when a channel of the Lee flowed along the Grand Parade. In recent times it has been used to secure one end of a skipping rope as youngsters played on the refurbished Grand Parade. Tom Spalding in his book Cork City: a field guide to its street furniture claims that it may be the oldest piece of free-standing street furniture in Cork.