Cannon have been made of various materials apart from iron and bronze, such as wood, paper, and rope, the outside covering being of leather. All the early guns used in England were obtained from abroad; the first foundry in England was that of Hugget of Uckfield, Sussex, in 1521, who cast cannon in brass and iron, using the Sussex iron smelted with charcoal. There are some pieces of ordnance preserved in the Rotunda at Woolwich which are of this age, and may possibly have come from the Sussex foundry. Examples of early cannon are rare in England, but on the Continent many may be found, especially in Belgium. The Rotunda and the Tower of London probably contain the finest specimens in the British Isles. In the Royal Arsenal at Madrid is preserved a small piece of ordnance dating from late fifteenth century. It is double-barrelled and breech-loading, and exhibits a wealth of ornamentation upon almost every part (Plate XXXVII.*). A breech-loading peterara of forged iron of the time of Edward IV. is in the Rotunda, and is illustrated in Plate XXXIX. It is made of longitudinal bars of iron hooped together with iron rings; the powder-chamber with its lifting handle is seen in position, and a simple locking arrangement prevented its blowing out upon the discharge. Trunnions are affixed to the piece, and the metal by which it was attached to the long-decayed wooden gun-carriage is still preserved. The length of the gun is 3 feet and the calibre 2½ inches, while the name implies that the shot was of stone. This very rare piece of ordnance is in excellent condition. The progress in artillery was very slow, but gradually cannon became mounted upon wheels and rude carriages, an advance upon the logs and cumbrous beds of the preceding period, while iron was substituted for stone in the projectile. The engagement of trained professional gunners in place of the civilians who had managed the artillery in the fourteenth century, was another step which led to improvement, Dutch artillerymen being employed by Henry VIII. Charles VIII. and subsequent French monarchs undoubtedly did much for the improvement of the weapon; they adopted light guns for field artillery, and introduced the system of rapidly taking up different positions from which to assail the enemy. The Civil War in England found a great scarcity of cannon, and more particularly of efficient gunners, and generally it may be stated that the English use of artillery was much behind that existing upon the Continent until the middle of the eighteenth century. [Illustration: PLATE XL The “Creçy” Bombard, _temp._ Edward III. Arbalestier, Fifteenth Century. (Rotunda, Woolwich)]