Publication Account
Date 1999
Event ID 1022531
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022531
Locally known for obvious reasons as the 'licquorice allsort', this is undoubtedly the most stylish of Orkney's surviving wartime buildings designed for entertainment. Although few other buildings remain in this vicinity this theatre formed part of the main Services Headquarters at North Walls, close, incidentally, to where the Iron Duke was beached for much of the Second World War. Dating from 1942, the garrison theatre is built of black-rendered brickwork, the surviving block originally fronting a parallel set of Nissen huts, one housing a sinema the other a dance hall. The roof raggles and layouts of both are clearly visible in the back garden: the lawn on the south side slopes to the west, being the base for cinema seating, while the northern half is level and served as the dance hall. In the PRO there is an exterior wartime view of the theatre looking towards the south (cinema) side of the building.
Information from 'RCAHMS Excursion Guide 1999: Commissioners' field excursion, Orkney, 8-10 September 1999'.
