View from South West

Description View from South West

Date 30/5/1997

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

Catalogue Number D 17604 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 652711

Scope and Content World War II squash court, World War I and II Naval Base, Lyness, Hoy, Orkney Islands At Lyness on Hoy, close to the sounds which made up the main fleet anchorage, naval quarters, stores and an oil depot were established during World War I and were considerably developed in World War II to become the Base Headquarters, HMS Proserpine. The base came to include an extensive area for the repair of anti-submarine boom nets, 16 above-ground oil storage tanks and, beneath the nearby hill of Wee Fea, six very large underground fuel tanks which were capable of storing some 100,000 tons of oil. One of the few surviving buildings in the northern half of the Lyness site but one of the many designed for wartime recreational purposes is this plain, buttressed brick structure which is a double squash court known to have been erected by the Royal Navy in 1942. The single doorway in the side wall gives access to the two courts which are marked out at each end of the building. 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.

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