A colour postcard showing the fountain at Ropner Park Stockton also showing the cannon.
The cannon shown in this picture was near the children’s play area, children could climb on it. I wonder where it went. Did it go for scrap during the war? (This information was kindly provided by Robert(Bob) Dicken) 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
The publishers of this post card were the Stockton printers Brittain & Wright whose premises were on the corner of Bridge Road and Wharf Street. They were prolific picture post card publishers with almost 3,000 views in their hand coloured “Phoenix Series”. I believe they closed down around 1960. I have seen another photograph with the same sparse growth and the cannon in the same place, dated 1911. I think the imprint in the stamp box says “Printed in Saxony”. Many publishers used German printers from this area at the time because they had advanced skills in lithographic colour separation that gave quality and kept costs down. I believe Post office regulations allowed address and correspondence on the same side of the card divided by a line (like the one in the picture) for the first time in 1902. So its probably dated between 1902 and the start of WW1.
This card was published by the Stockton firm of Brittain and Wright, they produced postcards of places from coast to coast in Northern England. The earliest cards I have seen by this publisher were photographed circa 1902. The crest to the right of the castle and anchor could be a stylised crown. As King Edward VII had his coronation in 1902 it is possible that the displays were marking this national event. As for the Crimean Cannon, the one that was outside the T.A. in Middlesbrough was one that had been given to that town and for many years stood in Albert Park. After some years outside the Dorman Museum it now stands on display in Albert Park. The carriage of that cannon is totally different to the carriage of the one in Ropner Park. Stockton”s cannon, like many others around the country, went for scrap metal as a contribution to the war effort in the 1940s.
Ropner Park A few questions I notice Stockton Town Castle and Anchor Crest in flowers, any idea what the others crests are, the date the tree-growth to the rear is very sparce (early 1900s ) and what it celebrated. The Crimea Cannon had a wandering exsistance it appeared all over the fountain and band stand area photographs. I believe it finished up in the T,A Centre drive-way on the Wilderness Road Mbro The card itself published by (the web detail covers first name, was it Britannia ?) and Wright of Stockton -on-Tees, while it appeared to be published in Germany ?