London is filled with bollards designed to prevent vehicles, old and new, from travelling where they shouldn’t. And, of course, there’s much debate over which is the oldest.

The oldest may well be a rather rusty looking one in the courtyard outside the Church of St Helen’s Bishopsgate.

In what was a practice replicated elsewhere in the City around the time, it’s apparently made out of the French naval cannon dating from the 18th century.

The cannon’s muzzle end has been embedded into the pavement with the non-loading end sticking up.

Legend says that another cannon bollard, located just outside the Globe Theatre on South Bank, comes from French ships captured at the Battle of Trafalgar. While it is indeed said to be a cannon, many have cast doubt on its origins as coming from Trafalgar.

Correction: We’ve correct the story to say it was the non-loading end sticking up.