{{Short description|Room on a naval vessel or in an English country house}} [[File:Vasa-orlop aft gunroom.jpg|thumb|300px|The aft gunroom on the ''Vasa'']] {{distinguish|Gun deck}} A '''gunroom''' is the junior officers' mess on a naval vessel. It was occupied by the officers below the rank of lieutenant. In wooden sailing ships it was on a lower deck, and was originally the quarters of the gunner,<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Gun-room|volume=12|page=729}}</ref> but in its form as a mess, guns were not normally found in it. The senior officers' equivalent is the wardroom.
In large ships of war, the gunroom was a compartment originally occupied by the gunner and his mates, but now fitted up for the accommodation of the junior officers; in smaller vessels, that used as a mess-room by the lieutenants.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, "gunroom"</ref>
In an English country house, the gunroom is a secure walk-in vault in which sporting rifles, shotguns, ammunition and other shooting accessories are kept. They are locked away partly for security, partly as some makes such as Holland & Holland or Purdey are highly valuable (costing as much as £60,000 for shotguns and £100,000 for rifles and with a 2- to 3-year waiting list from order to delivery).<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web |url=http://www.hollandandholland.com/history/history3.htm |title=Holland and Holland: History |access-date=2010-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127060416/http://www.hollandandholland.com/history/history3.htm |archive-date=2010-01-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also== * Magazine (artillery)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Sailing ship elements}}
Category:Ship compartments Category:Military catering