Archaeology Notes

Event ID 770636

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/770636

NN16SE 38 1750 6173

For (relevant) field survey area (AOC, 1997), see NN26SW 27.

A possible searchlight stance (NMRS MS 738/31, no.12), lying immediately below the modern road, was recorded during a pre-afforestation survey by AOC (Scotland Ltd). The site comprises a stone-lined pit, which measures 2m in diameter and 0.5m in depth, within which there is a concrete pillar 1m in diameter and 0.6m high. A stainless steel bolt, 1 inch in diameter and 4 inches high, is set into the top of the pillar. About 60m to the SE and above the road, at NN 1757 6170, there is square-sectioned, T-shaped ditch (NMRS MS 738/31, no.15) measuring 5m in length, 1m in width and 0.5m in depth.

C Burgess (AOC Scotland Ltd) March 1996; NMRS MS 738/31, nos. 12 and 15 (nos.44/1-2).

Field survey was carried over an area of 20sq km around the shores of Loch Leven during March 1996. The survey concentrated in an area between the village of Glen Coe (8km to the W of Kinlochleven) and the Blackwater dam (about 3km E of Kinlochleven) and examined all the ground between sea level and 300m that was not under existing forestry or woodland.

Monuments already recorded in this area were either related to the military road (NN16SE 2) or the building of the dam (NN26SW 3) that provides power to the Kinlochleven aluminium smelter. Some 82 monuments were recorded systematically for the first time. They fall into three clear groups: military monuments, industrial monuments and Early Historic/prehistoric monuments.

Within the area a variety of military monuments were recorded that appear mostly to relate to the protection and building of the smelter and dam. Sites included search light stations (NN 1750 6173), fox holes (NN 1757 6170), and the substantive remains of a prisoner-of-war camp that was built to house a labour force for the smelter. This site (NN26SW 13) consisted mainly of building footings and landscaping features that can be clearly seen in clearings within the woodland and birch scrub about 1000m to the E of Kinlochleven.

A full report has been placed in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

AOC (Scotland) Ltd 1996

The description given by AOC Scotland (Burgess 1996) would appear to describe a WW II spigot mortar mounting. The protruding stainless steel bolt located centrally on the circular concrete pillar is the usual mounting for a weapon of this type. The fact that it is sitting within a circular pit is unusual.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), March 2003