The documents show that Irish officials from the National Museum of Ireland and department of foreign affairs, and the chief state solicitor, repeatedly sought their return.
Documents also show that the Royal Armouries said it “wished to resolve the controversy”, partly over concerns that the cannon could be targeted by the Provisional IRA, and expressed fear that further publicity would again “target the Tower, or its officials”.
Irish authorities reportedly began investigating the provenance of the cannon – said to be worth at least £30,000 each in the 1990s, and it was alleged the cannon had been smuggled out of Irish waters by a “gang of British treasure hunters” before being sold in an Essex scrap garage at the “knock-down price” of £3,250 to a senior Tower official who did not ask where they came from.
