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General view from N.

C 73125 CN

Description General view from N.

Date 22/5/1996

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number C 73125 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 657303

Scope and Content Front block, World War II Garrison Theatre, North Ness, Longhope, Hoy, Orkney Islands During both World Wars the influx of tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel into Orkney meant the creation or adaptation of buildings for residential and communal use on a massive scale. Purpose-built accommodation huts and service buildings were generally of the mass-produced and pre-fabricated types which prevailed elsewhere in wartime Britain, and military sites throughout Orkney had a greater or lesser complement of such structures, the greatest concentrations being around the naval base at Lyness on Hoy and the airfields on Mainland. As well as catering for religious worship, the major camps boasted cinemas, concert halls and gymnasia, and shore-based recreation facilities, particularly on Flotta and Hoy, were provided for those whose accommodation was on board ship. Forming part of the main Service Headquarters at North Ness, Longhope, the most stylish of these surviving wartime buildings designed for entertainment is the former Garrison Theatre which dates from 1942. This view shows the surviving front block of the former Garrison Theatre, a distinctive structure of Art Deco style it is built of black rendered brickwork with white banded window bays. Behind it in World War II stood a pair of Nissen huts, side by side, one housing a cinema, the other a dance hall, both entered through the wide porch at the front, later converted to a house doorway. The furthest garden wall on the right roughly marks the extent of the former dance hall. On the left is Longhope and the shore of Little Ayre where the flagship, HMS Iron Duke, damaged in an air raid in October 1939, lay beached for much of World War II. At the heart of the Orkney archipelago, Scapa Flow was the main fleet anchorage for the Royal Navy during both World Wars. Its vital importance led to the creation of one of the most concentrated defence networks in Britain. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Colour negative

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/477196

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