Interior. General view of Dormitory.

Description Interior. General view of Dormitory.

Date 6/6/1996

Catalogue Number SC 600945

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 3109

Scope and Content Interior of World War II barrack hut, Ness Battery, Stromness, Mainland, Orkney Islands In both World Wars coast batteries were built to protect the channels into Scapa Flow and Kirkwall Bay, where there was an important contraband control. The greatest concentrations of firepower were at the main southern and north-western entrances to the Flow, the latter covered by a series of coast batteries centred, in World War II, on Ness Battery at Stromness. This is the timber-lined interior of one of the barrack or communal dormitory blocks at Ness Battery, looking towards the door into the ablutions or toilet/washroom section at the far end. At the opposite end, behind the camera viewpoint, is the stove which heated the room and the well-favoured beds nearby. Although this shows later use by the Territorial Army, the furnishings and general arrangements almost certainly perpetuate those of wartime. The use of two-tier, steel-framed bunk beds, interspersed with clothes lockers, meant that several dozen soldiers could be accommodated within each block, but crew shift operations also meant that they would not be full to capacity at any one time. Lower sections of paired roof braces are visible along the side walls, and mid-way along the right side are the baffle walls which flank the entrance into the barrack. 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.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/600945

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap