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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016195
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016195
Hoxa Head overlooks the main entrance into Scapa Flow through Hoxa Sound. Hoxa Battery was built in the First World War at the southern tip of the peninsula and equipped with 6-inch gun emplacements and magazines. In the Second World War it was rebuilt with two 6-inch gun emplacements and magazines, an observation post, an engine-room and footings for searchlights. These defences were strengthened in 1940-1 by the addition of another battery to the north, alongside the lighthouse built in 1901. This is the Balfour Battery, which is now the better preserved of the two. There are two twin 6-pounder gun emplacements with their ammunition magazines and shelters, an observation tower, three searchlight emplacements and an engine-room.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Orkney’, (1996).
