GUNS used by the Spanish Armada have been discovered off the coast of Co. Sligo.
The find includes a number of bronze cannons, a gun carriage wheel and a ship's cauldron.
The items are likely belong to the shipwrecked La Juliana which was discovered on the seabed off the coast of Streedagh over the winter.
The wreck dates from 1570 and was initially a trading vessel before being used as a warship during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588.
The ship would have carried around 320 soldiers at the height of her use.
Many of the ships used in the Armada campaign met their fate off the coast of Ireland and the area is ripe with artefacts from the era.
Occasionally cannonballs have even been known to wash up on Irish beaches.
Divers from the Underwater Archaeology Unit recover one of the cannons. Picture: National Monuments Service - Archaeology FacebookDivers with the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the National Monuments Service were involved in the recovery of the cannons.
Although not part of the dive team, Sligo-based archaeologist Tamlyn McHugh from Fadó Archaeology has seen the artefacts and said: "All of them are absolutely ornate and in pretty good condition.”
One of the cannons appears to be Italian while another one features the inscription 'San Sebastian', a further gun features markings in which appear to be early Arabic.
The ship's cauldron was also recovered and was found to contain traces of tar and pitch - the substance that would have been used to repair the ship.
The work to bring the cannons and other artefacts up from the wreck-site will continue this week.
They will then be stored in salt water before being transported to research facilities in Dublin.
There further tests will help to determine their origin.
See More: Sligo, Spanish Armada
