Arpley Cannons bases black plaque

This black commemorative plaque records: The Arpley Cannons were once a well-known landmark in Warrington. They stood in front of Arpley Station (demolished in 1968) as a memorial to the British soldiers who died serving their country in the Crimean War. The two Russian cannons were brought back to Britain as victory trophies from the Siege of Sebastopol where the Russians were defeated by the Allied troops on 8th September 1855. Presented to Warrington by the British Government in April 1858, the cannons were recognition of the town's support for the war in the Crimea. They stood as a memorial to the Crimean War for almost a century. On 22nd June 1940 the cannons were removed for scrap to contribute to Warrington's war effort. The granite plaques, which were set into the base on which the cannons rested, survived. However, for many years they lay forgotten, half-buried in the ground in Victoria Park. In 2004 the plaques were rescued and placed in their new position in Queens Gardens, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Sebastopol in 1854.

The Arpley Cannons were Russian artillery pieces displayed as a Crimean War memorial in Warrington, commemorating local soldiers who died and symbolizing British victory at Sebastopol. The cannons, relocated multiple times, stood for nearly a century before being scrapped for World War II efforts; their plaques now reside in Queens Gardens.