Archaeology Notes

Event ID 677376

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/677376

HY51SW 10.06 centred 5398 1187

All that survives of what was a hutted camp providing technical suppport to the Coast Battery, are several concrete hut bases on either side of the final 150m of the track that runs E to the gun-emplacements (HY51SW 10.01). Also within this area are two engine rooms (Nos. 1 and 2), one of which stands at the W side and the other is situated in the middle of rough grazing on the S side (see HY51SW 10.05) of this area.

Eleven concrete hut bases were identified, with traces of what may be another two. The gun record book layout plan of the Battery and associated structures (PRO WO 192/264) shows that:

Two of the bases situated next to the beach were for the ablutions block the other was for baths. The small building at the W end of this group may have been for a anti-aircraft searchlight, (c.HY 5403 1191), for the 2-inch unrotating projectile (UP) launcher at c. HY 5411 1191, where the circular concrete base is still extant. Immediately to the E of the more easterly of the two hut bases are the foundations of a square stone building, possibly the remains of one of two structures recorded under HY51SW 15.

The group of four huts centred at HY 5398 1187 were, from E to W, the machine gun store, Regimental quartermaster store, Quartermasters/duty officers office and the fitters workshop respectively. About 30m to the S of this group is a single larger hut base annotated as a Training hut'

On the N side of the track are a further two hut bases, the gun and quartermasters stores respectively. Closer to the gun-emplacements on the S side of the track are two single hut bases, the more westerly was the Battery office whilst that further E was the seargeants mess. Other huts are shown on the layout plan (ibid), but little evidence for them could be seen on the ground on the date of visit.

Most of the huts are visible on 1946 RAF vertical air photographs (106G/Scot/UK 137, 4038-4039, flown 3 July 1946), which shows four huts had already been removed by this date and that most were of the Nissen type.

Visited by RCAHMS (DE, GS, SW), August 1999