Poolewe, St Maelrubha Close, Military Camp

Situated on both sides of a track on the W side of the A832 Poolewe to Gairloch road, immediately S of St Maelrubha Close is the remains of a WW2 military camp. The camp site occupies a roughly L-shaped encloure with a number concrete hut bases visible. The W end of the site five hut bases are arranged in a semi circle. A standing building identified as a Gun Operations Room (GOR) (see NG88SE 73.01) occupies the SE corner of the camp site. According to local sources a garrison theatre was located in the area now occupied by St Maelrubha Close.

Visited by RCAHMS (AKK) 12 October 2012

NG 85617 80597 (centred on) A desk-based assessment and measured survey were carried out, 2 June 2017, at the site of the former Highland Fieldcraft Training Centre. The centre was one of the main residential bases for the military presence in the area during WW2 when Loch Ewe was a strategic naval port.

Eighteen individual sites were recorded, the majority of which were the concrete bases of former structures containing Nissen Huts on the N side of the Communications Building (still surviving) and the Garrison Theatre (now replaced by the Community Hall). In the SE corner of the site, surrounded by thick vegetation and trees, a brick-built bunker survives.

The flat-roofed building measures 18m NNW/SSE by 14m and stands c4m high. The building had two protruding porchlike entrances at its NW and SW corners. A third entrance (big enough for a vehicle) was built into the N wall, located partly below ground level. An interpretation panel will be

placed next to the site.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: Private individual

Lynn Fraser – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES, Volume 18)