St Keverne’s historic cannon is looking “bang tidy,” to coin a popular expression, after being refurbished by a group of volunteers.

Originally found on the 19th century Royal Navy ship HMS Primrose, which was sunk on The Manacles in 1809, the carronade – to give the gun its proper title – can be seen overlooking the village square, high up on the edge of the parish churchyard.

It was back in November 2015, around Armistice Day, that Giles Ruscombe-King saw the cannon looking in what he described as a “decidedly tired.”

He rallied a group of friends with the expertise needed to give the cannon a complete refurbishment.

Sand blasting, paint work and metal work has been carried out by Philip Hosking, Matt Jilbert, Genaro Auterio. John Bennett and Marcus Rampley of FUGRO Seacore, while John Jane and Nigel Rafen have created a new oak gun carriage for it to sit on.

All lifting and storage has been carried out by Andrew Tylor, Michael Tylor, Neville Richards and Michael Anselmi.

Mr Ruscombe-King told the Packet: “The reason I decided to undertake the refurbishment of this artefact was after 40 years in the elements the carronade and gun carriage looked decidedly tired and in need of TLC.

“I felt that something needed to be done in memory of service personnel that perished with the HMS Primrose, so that is what we did, lest we forget their sacrifice.”

He said he wanted to thank publicly everyone who had helped and donated their time and materials for free.

HMS Primrose was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Thomas Nickells, at Fowey and launched in 1807.

She was commissioned under Commander James Mein, who sailed her to the coast of Spain on February 3, 1808.

Weighing at 384 tons, with a length of 100ft and beam of 30ft, she had an armament of 18 guns – including the one now in St Keverne.

In January 1809 Primrose sailed for Spain with a convoy, but on January 22, at 5am, she ran aground a mile off the coast on Mistrel Rock, The Manacles during a snowstorm and was wrecked – the sole survivor being a drummer boy.

Lieutenant J Withers of the Manacles Signal Post led the rescue with six other men, with the Admiralty paying them ten guineas each for their part in the rescue.

The other crew of 130 officers and men lost their lives and were buried in a mass grave in St Keverne churchyard.

In the 1970s a team of divers raised four of the Primrose's carronades, the rest of her guns now solidified into the rocks.