North Sutor, Coast Battery

The military camp site lies behind and to the NW of the gun emplacements. The layout of the buildings is shown on a plan of the battery dated 1922 (The National Archive WO 78/5192). At least eighteen are shown on the plan including the engine house (see NH86NW 9.13) and PWSS (see NH86NW 9.20). The buildings, all to the S of the track to the 4-inch QF battery, include two Sergeants and Men’s quarters, Officers Quarters, two cook houses each with a store, a carpenters workshop, latrines, a guard room, two workshops, paint store, garage, one building labelled D.R.R . Three of the buildings lie outside the boundary fence to the SW.

The camp site was completely demolished and a larger camp site of 25 buildings was constructed to a different arrangement for the Second World War. Accommodation for men was in five buildings on the N side of the track parallel to the boundary fence and a Royal Corp of Signals building at the E end. On the S side of the road on the W end was the officer’s mess. Moving towards the E, the next building was the V.A.D. hut (probably a hospital/medical building). Standing to the E was the engine house (see NH86NW 9.13), then beside that were three huts one behind the other, which were the NAAFI staff hut, the Isolation hut and the M.I. hut. The next building beside the track was the NAAFI with the Sergeants mess behind it. The cookhouse (and possible dining hall) was the biggest building. Behind that was the bath house and a store room. The battery offices also fronted the road with the reserve hut for the gun crews situated behind it. The last building on the S side of the track was a lecture hut. A guard hut stood on the E side of the entrance gateway with the RA store to the S (see NH86NW 9.12). All these building are visible on a RAF air photographs (106G/UK/751, 6039, flown 31 August 1945).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 30 July 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.