Edinburgh, Cramond Island, Cramond And Dalmeny Batteries, No.2 Engine Room
Engine House (Second World War)
Site Name Edinburgh, Cramond Island, Cramond And Dalmeny Batteries, No.2 Engine Room
Classification Engine House (Second World War)
Alternative Name(s) Forth Defences
Canmore ID 271555
Site Number NT17NE 71.05
NGR NT 19730 78735
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/271555
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT17NE 71.05 19729 78733
The brick and concrete No.2 Engine Room is situated about 35m W of the twin 6-pounder gun emplacement (NT17NE 71.03).
The building measures approximately 9.4m by 6.5m overall E-W. Built into the slope, the building has been provided with a set of concrete steps, steel framed windows and a series of ventilators immediately below roof height.
Visited by RCAHMS (DE, AL) May 1998
It is reinforced concrete not brick and concrete.
Three engine mounts are installed, two for the main generators and a third for the auxiliary set.
Information to RCAHMS via e-mail from Mr J Dods (Cramond Heritage Society), April 2006.
Field Visit (31 August 2022)
The Second World War gun battery on Cramond Island was equipped with two engine houses, No.2 being situated immediately above the three searchlight emplacements (NT17NE 71.04) and W of the twin 6-pounder gun emplacement (NT17NE 71.03). The building, which is set on a platform that has been hollowed out of the steep natural rocky slope, is rectangular on plan, measuring 9.17m from WNW to ESE by 5.64m transversely within brick walls 0.45m thick. These rise to a high flat roof supported by thick concrete beams. The top of the roof has been camouflaged with a layer of grass held in place around the edges by a low brick revetment. Most of this cover remains in place though much of the brickwork has now gone. The only doorway is 1.85m wide and is located close to the E end of the NNE side; it is approached up a broad set of concrete steps. All four walls contain windows, some retaining their original frames, and blocks of narrow vents immediately below the roof, the external louvred covers of some still being in position.
The W end of the interior has contained two rectangular concrete plinths which measure about 0.3m in height and once supported diesel engines. Accompanying these plinths is a system of 0.3m wide channels in the concrete floor which are linked via apertures at the foot of the walls to an external drain. The exhausts from the diesel engines were vented through the S wall where a wide aperture was aligned with each plinth. A third plinth which is set against the S wall close to the SE corner seems too small to have supported an engine and there is no corresponding aperture for an exhaust vent, though there is a window close-by. The internal wall-faces especially, but also the external ones, are liberally covered with graffiti, some of it very modern.
Situated immediately S of the engine-house and also contained within the rock-cut excavation is a concrete platform, the southern edge of which is now obscured by soil slip and vegetation. This platform, which is supported on brick walls, measures at least 6.1m from N to S by 3.06m and it stands 2.3m high on the N, therefore well above the floor level of the engine-house. The platform contains at least three small manholes containing steel pipework. This indicates that it probably once supported the fuel tanks for the diesel engines within the building.
Visited by HES Archaeological Survey (J. Sherriff, A. McCaig) 31 August 2022.
Measured Survey (30 August 2022)
HES surveyed engine house No. 2 at Cramond Battery on 30 August 2022 with tape and laser measurer at scale of 1:100. The resultant plan was redrawn in vector graphics software at a scale of 1:100.
