Archaeology Notes

Event ID 763460

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/763460

HY41SE 52.00 centred 4674 1450

For Carness Battery, see HY41SE 51.00

HY41SE 52.01 HY 46742 14507, HY 46731 14528 and HY 46702 14524 Gun-emplacements

HY41SE 52.02 HY 46723 14483 Observation post

HY41SE 52.03 HY 46816 14482 and HY 46625 14534 Searchlight battery

HY41SE 52.04 HY 46654 14459 and HY 46714 14480 Engine house; Building

Wellington Battery: Three 6-inch gun emplacements, magazines, shelters, observation post, engine room and searchlight platforms. The three 6-inch MkVII guns were on naval mountings. The battery was placed on care and maintainance in 1943. The emplacements are now used as animal pens.

J Guy 1993; NMRS MS 810/2; WO/192/115 PRO

A large 6-inch coast gun battery is situated to the W of a track at the northern end of Carn Ness. The surviving remains consists of three brick shuttered concrete gun-emplacements (HY41SE 52.01) with rectangular roofed crew shelters to the rear,shuttered concrete Battery Observation Post (BoP), engine room and a single searchlight platform. The site of the 6-inch shell magazine has been built over by a large modern farm shed.

All three gun-emplacements are now in use as animal pens and have had the open side closed off with wooden shuttering.

The coast battery is visible on RAF vertical air photographs (LEU/ UK 2, 7099-7101, flown 16 April 1948) which shows many of the hut bases for the accommodation camp and technical support. A plan of Wellington Battery is included with the gun record book ('Carness, plan of fort, scale 1:1875, layout of fort, map no.3'), held in the Public Record Office (PRO 192/110, 192/115), which annotates the use for which many of the buildings were used.

Wellington was armed in 1940 with three 6-inch Naval guns and was manned by 535 regiment (PRO WO 199/2627, WO 199/527).

Visited by RCAHMS (DE, GS), August 1999