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South Sutor, Coast Battery, Gun-emplacements
Gun Emplacement(S) (First World War)
Site Name South Sutor, Coast Battery, Gun-emplacements
Classification Gun Emplacement(S) (First World War)
Alternative Name(s) Cromarty Defences; Fort South Sutor; Site No. 3; Charlie's Seat
Canmore ID 170777
Site Number NH86NW 11.08
NGR NH 80885 67272
NGR Description NH c. 80885 67272
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/170777
- Council Highland
- Parish Cromarty
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH86NW 11.08 c.8085 6727
A World War I gun-emplacement for a 4-inch QF (quick-firing ) gun, location to be confirmed.
This World War I coast battery is situated down a steep slope just W of Charlies' Seat.
There are emplacements for 2 x 4-inch QF (quick firing) guns with underground magazines immediately to the rear. In addition there are two searchlight emplacements below. The entrances to the magazines still show camouflage paint in good condition. The remains of the accommodation camp for the crew can still be seen on the ground above the battery.
J Guy 2000; NMRS MS 810/10, Vol.2, 95, Vol.3, 49-52
Note (24 July 2013)
The 4-inch QF (Quick Firing) battery (site no. 3) lies at the foot of the South Sutor, on steeply sloping ground. The battery comprised two 4 -inch guns with a partially buried magazine to the rear.
The holdfast for each gun and the concrete apron are visible in dense vegitation. Directly behind each gun emplacement is a flight of steps leading to the magazine. On the walls of the W stair there is well preserved First World War Camouflage paint scheme. The Magazine building comprises a half arched corridour between the two entrance stairways, with a possible watch office on the N side, and two rooms on the S side. A single doorway leads into the W room, which also has a metal framed window. From this room a doorway enters the E room which was the magazine room.
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 24 July 2013.
Project (March 2013 - September 2013)
A project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War. Carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.
Field Visit (19 February 2020)
This double gun emplacement, which is dug into a steep ENE-facing slope about 45m ENE of the engine house (NH86NW 11.19), formed part of the infrastructure of the battery introduced by the Admiralty in the First World War. Now greatly obscured by bracken and rushes, it was originally equipped with two 4-inch quick-firing guns affixed to holdfasts on rectangular concrete platforms extending like wings from a linking platform in front of the rest of the emplacement. Although only a small proportion of the holdfasts are visible, they stand about 20m apart behind the parapets of two low semi-circular concrete aprons facing out across the firth.
The main bulk of the emplacement is rectangular on plan and measures about 17m from ENE to WSW by 9m transversely. A wall rising behind the platform between the two wings retains a bracken- and grass-grown bank that slopes up to a horizontal surface. In the centre of this stands a square-sectioned ranging pillar measuring 0.98m in height, while close by is a square vent surrounded by a concrete collar. Symmetrical staircases of concrete either side of this bank lead down to a passage that provides access to an underground magazine. The cement rendered walls of both stairwells retain a colourwash for camouflage, but this is best preserved on the WNW, where bold curvilinear blues, pinks and yellows blend into one another. This forms a sharp contrast with the corridor running between the stairwells, where the cement rendered walls and ceiling have been simply whitewashed. The ENE wall and the roof of the corridor is a quarter round in cross-section. The ESE length measures 1.5m broad and 2.26m high, while the W length is wider and measures 2.84m broad and 2.6m high. However, a telephone booth measuring 1.82m from WNW to ESE by 1.1m transversely within what was once a part timber and part-concrete wall 0.21m in thick and 2.31m high occupies its ESE end. The booth’s SW elevation contained a central doorway with quarter round-topped windows either side. There are traces of wooden boards for electrical equipment on the inside walls. The broader corridor beyond this bears further marks on the wall that may be consistent with a low bench along the ENE wall and its use as a crew shelter. A bulkhead light was fixed above this. A doorway with chamfered edges in the SSW wall provides access to the shell store, which is the more westerly of two compartments forming the magazine. It measures 4.6m from ENE to WSW by 3.35m transversely within concrete walls up to 0.85m thick and 2.28m high. The interior is lit by a large metal-framed window to the WNW of the door, which is protected externally by iron bars. There are traces of bulkhead lights to either side of the window close to the ceiling, where there is a rectangular vent just above the ESE jamb. A doorway with chamfered edges in the ESE wall leads directly into the Cordite Store, which measures 6.1m from ENE to WSW by 3.35m transversely within walls 0.85m in thick and 2.28m high. Two small rectangular hatches in the ENE wall light the interior, but these could be closed in the corridor by metal shutters although these are now missing.
A gun-crew shelter, which is situated 3m SSW of the ESE gun holdfast, is terraced back into the steep ENE-facing slope, but only the WNW end of the building and part of the rear wall survives. This fragment indicates that it was rectangular on plan, but what remains measures only 1.8m from NW to SE by 1.4m transversely within whitewashed brick walls 0.3m in thick and at least 1.35m high. There are two rectangular putlogs located above one another in the rear wall, indicating a partition between two cubicles. A water pipe emerges from the earth above the wall.
The gun emplacement is shown on plans of the battery in the Fort Record Book held in the National Archives at Kew (WO78/5192 15/19 and 18/19). A photograph (SC1116238) taken from the SE on 29 August 1913 illustrates the underground magazine under construction.
Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AKK), 19 February 2020.
