CAPE TOWN'S TIME-GUNS

Abstract

Although a great many articles have been written on the subject of Cape Town's noon gun (the. official terminology is 'time-gun') most of the writers have not had access to the Lion Battery Fort Record Book and the existance of more than one Cape Town time-gun has only recently been recorded. By 1807 a noon gun was fired regularly from the Imhoff Battery on the seaward side of the Castle.1 On 4 August 1902 the noon gun was fired from Lion Battery on Signal Hill for the first time.2 The battery was built because of fears of war with Russia and had been armed with two 9- inch Rifled Muzzle Loading guns by 1891. Lion Battery was remodelled in 1911.