South Sutor, Port War Signal Station
Flagpole (Second World War) (1939)-(1945), Military Camp (Second World War)(Possible), Naval Signal Station (Second World War)
Site Name South Sutor, Port War Signal Station
Classification Flagpole (Second World War) (1939)-(1945), Military Camp (Second World War)(Possible), Naval Signal Station (Second World War)
Alternative Name(s) Cromarty Defences; South Sutor Battery
Canmore ID 173676
Site Number NH86NW 11.13
NGR NH 80879 67011
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/173676
- Council Highland
- Parish Cromarty
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Ross And Cromarty
- Former County Ross And Cromarty
NH86NW 11.13 80879 67011
Previously recorded as NH86NW 15.
The Port War Signal Station for the Cromarty Firth is situated on the W side of the South Sutor coast battery (NH86NW 11.00). The signal station has been demolished, but several buildings constructed of wood, concrete and asbestos sheeting forming part of the hutted camp are extant, albeit in very poor condition.
J Guy 2000; NMRS MS 810/10, Vol.2, 59
A group of huts comprising the former WW I and WW II Port War Signal Station. The huts are constructed of wood, concrete and asbestos sheets and are in varying stages of dilapidation.
The Port War Signal Station is visible on RAF vertical air photographs (106G/UK/751, 6035-6037, flown 31 August 1945).
Visited by RCAHMS (DE, SW, GS)
Note (24 July 2013)
The location of the Second World War PWSS (Port War Signal Station)and the associated Royal Navy camp site lie S of the Fire Command Post on a level terrace. Seven buildings are visible to the S of the Fire Command Post (see NH86NW 11.01) on a 1945 RAF air photograph (106G/UK/751, 6035-6037, flown 31 August 1945), three of which have camouflage paint schemes on their roof. The signal station comprised one building at NH 80893 06983. The rest of the buildings provided accommodation for navy camp. Only two buildings remain standing at the N end of the terrace while the rest survive as footings.
There is no evidence of this site being in use during the First World War
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 24 July 2013.
Field Visit (19 February 2020)
This building, which is situated in waste ground immediately S of the air raid shelter (NH86NW 11.14), formed part of the infrastructure of the battery introduced by the Royal Navy in the First World War. It measures 5m from N to S by 3.6m transversely within a low revetment wall on the W. The concrete floor has been painted red, while the superstructure of the building was timber with iron supports at each corner.
One of possibly four concrete blocks that once anchored a mast survives at the NW corner of the building. It measures 0.91m from E to W by 0.77m transversely and 0.7m in height and preserves a metal stanchion on its top.
The building is annotated ‘P.W.S.S. Post’ (Port War Signal Station) on a plan of the battery in the Fort Record Book held in the National Archives at Kew (WO78/5192), which also shows that a Flagpole was situated a few metres to its W. It is also visible on an RAF vertical aerial photograph (Scot-106G-RAF-0751-6036) flown on 31 August 1945 and on an oblique from the E (USN 218 206-0097) that was also flown in 1945.
The Port War Signal Station was a two storey wooden structure with a railed observation platform around part of its upper section to which access was had by an external wooden staircase. It was reused as a Coastguard Lookout after the Second World War until it was demolished in the 1970s.
Visited by HES, Survey and Recording (ATW, AKK), 19 February 2020.
