This was the site of "The Cannons" captured by the the Hon. Sir James Yorke Scarlett, at the battle of Balaclava, in the Crimean War.

General Scarlett was given command of the Heavy Brigade, and led the charge against a vastly superior force of Russian artillery, which he routed. The cannons were presented to Burnley by the Minister of State for War in 1867, and sited at the eastern tip of the Grammar School Gardens, where they remained until they were melted down for scrap during World War 2. The platform on which they were placed however, still remains. The carved tablet says "Russian Guns to the Borough of Burnley, Lieut-General Peel, Secretary of State for War, 1867.