A metal detectorist who appealed for answers after finding a suspected 'cannon' on a Largs beach has revealed the truth after further digging. 

Bill Henry was searching near The Pencil monument when he uncovered the large object on Tuesday, July 9.

He believed at the time that it could be a cannon from El Espíritu Santo, a Spanish Armada ship which sank off Portencross in 1588. 

Bill quickly contacted the National Trust for Scotland, as well as other organisations with specialist knowledge of the time.

However, in the week since the find, further light has been shed on the object, which turned out to be a rather less exotic discovery: namely a pipe buried in the sand.

One person who contacted the News with knowledge of the beach said they believed that Bill had dug up part of a combined sewer outfall pipe. 

And following a further visit to the beach to dig deeper, Bill also revealed that his find was indeed a pipe. 

He said: "The contours of the pipe are remarkably similar to those of cannons that you could find washed up.

"This won't deter me, and I'm sure I'll be back in Largs for some more exploring very soon."

The identity of the Spanish ship that sank off Portencross 436 years ago was a mystery until author Stephen Brown's book, 'The Portencross Armada History', was published in 2015.

Stephen, from West Kilbride, also included many new details in his book describing a 1740 salvage operation to try and find the cannon of El Spiritu Santo - which, wherever else it might be, does not appear to have been buried on the beach near The Pencil...