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Lossiemouth Airfield
Airfield (20th Century)
Site Name Lossiemouth Airfield
Classification Airfield (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Hms Fulmar; Raf Lossiemouth
Canmore ID 81610
Site Number NJ26NW 50
NGR NJ 2090 6948
NGR Description Centred NJ 2090 6948
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/81610
- Council Moray
- Parish Drainie
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Morayshire
NJ26NW 50.00 centred 2090 6948
Lossiemouth Airfield [NAT] (at NJ 208 694)
OS 1:10,560 map, 1970.
The airfield falls on six 1:10000 map sheets.
NJ26NW 50.01 NJ 2214 6920 Pillbox
NJ26NW 50.02 centred NJ 21665 69867 Aircraft Hangars; Buildings; Huts
NJ26NW 50.03 centred NJ 20276 69754 Aircraft Hangars; Buildings
NJ26NW 50.04 centred NJ 20453 68895 Aircraft Hangars; Buildings
NJ26NW 50.05 centred NJ 21693 68764 Bomb Store
NJ26NW 50.06 NJ 2013 6785 and NJ 2070 6765 Dispersal Bays
NJ26NW 50.07 NJ 21318 69867 Control Tower
NJ26NW 50.08 c.NJ 2182 6928 Pillbox (site of)
NJ26NW 50.09 c.NJ 2054 6911 Pillbox (site of)
NJ16NE 91 centred NJ 1980 6875 Dispersal Bays
NJ17SE 13.00 centred NJ 19902 70438 Aircraft Hangars; Buildings
NJ13SE 13.01 NJ 19873 70251 Pillbox
NJ26NW 55 NJ 22363 69571 Pillbox
NJ27SW 30.00 centred NJ 20637 70384 Aircraft Hangars; Buildings
NJ27SW 30.01 NJ 20402 70014 Pillbox
NJ27SW 30.02 centred NJ 21618 70272 Sewage Works
NJ27SW 30.03 c.NJ 2140 7044 Pillbox (site of)
NJ27SW 31 NJ 21600 70360 Pillbox
Extends onto OS 1:10000 and 1:10560 sheets NJ27SW, and NJ16NE.
For Old Parish Church of Drainie (NJ 1995 6921) and possible township at NJ 1984 6914, see NJ16NE 17 and NJ16NE 58 respectively.
For cropmarks within the area of the airfield, see NJ16NE 61, NJ16NE 62, and NJ26NW 79.
For (Smithfield) dovecot at NJ 2125 7021 (within the area of the airfield), see NJ27SW 27.
For the cropmarks of field boundaries and rig-and-furrow cultivation found around NJ 2129 7022, see NJ27SW 32.
Built as a permanent station at the same time as Kinloss (NJ06SE 29), opened in 1939, much of the accommodation being built rapidly. It is now the RN's largest station in Scotland.
D J Smith 1983.
The OS 1:10,560 map of 1970 depicts what are evidently dispersals and notes Airfield (disused) [NAT] at NJ 201 678 and NJ 206 676.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 December 1996.
Air photographs: AAS/97/12/G27/7-9, 13, 14 and AAS/97/12/CT.
NMRS, MS/712/29.
The airfield has been extensively recorded on two sorties of RAF WW II vertical air photographs (NLA 57, 5052-5059, flown 21 February 1943), at an approximate scale 1:2000 and FNO 189, 2.74-2.90, flown 13 October 1942, approximate scale of 1:10000), which shows most of the airfield.. The 1942 sortie shows the 'fields' camouflage scheme before the completion of the hard runways, whilst the 1943 sortie covers the technical area only. There also many postwar RAF and OS sorties of various dates covering this airfield, particularly 106G/UK 750, 6030-6035, 6041-6047, flown 31 August 1945. In addtion an annotated site plan from 1945 of the airfield, scale 1:2500 (Airfield plan no.30 RAF Museum, published by After the Battle Magazine) shows the disposition of aircraft hangars, buildings and huts at the end of the war.
The airfield has been subsequently reconstructed including the extension of the runways, removal of many of the wartime buildings except the hangars, many of which remain in use. The bomb store was orignially located on the northern perimeter, but at some time during WW II was rebuilt on the S side. This store has been reconstructed and adapted to suit modern warfare.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
Archaeological Evaluation (12 March 2018 - 21 March 2018)
Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by WYG on behalf of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), to undertake an archaeological evaluation of the area of land adjacent to the south of the northern taxiway at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, prior to the widening of the taxiway. The evaluation demonstrated that much of the area has been extensively landscaped during the construction of the airfield in the late 1930s, but that in some areas archaeological deposits of unknown age do exist. These features are generally shallow and truncated by the landscaping. It is probable that they are prehistoric in date, due to their similarities in shape and form as cropmarks with other examples in the area. Areas of low ground were filled in with material scraped and planed from areas of higher ground, as shown in the areas of high natural only 0.15 m below the current ground surface. Immediately prior to this landscaping a series of dumps of modern material were made in the area to the southwest of the old graveyard.
Information from OASIS ID: waherita1-313625 (B Saunders) 2018
Watching Brief (17 February 2020 - 21 February 2020)
NJ 20354 69653 A watching brief was undertaken, in February 2020, during the refurbishment of runways and associated taxiways at RAF Lossiemouth. The watching brief was limited to the strip area to the E of the Northern Taxiway on the airfield, identified by cropmark assessment and an archaeological evaluation in 2017 as having archaeological potential.
The watching brief uncovered a series of cut features within the strip area. While some were clearly modern relating to the construction and drainage of the airfield, the concentration of ditch and gully features within Area 3 are likely to be of prehistoric date. These included a partial ring gully, truncated to the west by the foundations of the Northern Taxiway and two sections of a wide enclosure ditch.
These remains, when brought into the results of the 2017 evaluation and the digitised cropmarks identified on aerial photography, show that there was an area of prehistoric settlement on the higher ground to the east of the Northern Taxiway. This settlement was made up of roundhouses defined by their ring gullies and enclosed by a ditch which was located at the edge of the drop off in topography. The higher ground the settlement was placed on was heavily truncated by the construction of the airfield and so any remains are generally very shallow. The archaeological works to date have identified the northern surviving limit of this settlement, however the footprint of the settlement to the south, west and east is not well defined. The lack of dating evidence for the settlement also means that the development and span of occupation is not yet understood.
No artefactual evidence relating to the prehistoric settlement was recovered, and no environmental evidence was recovered from the samples taken.
Archive: NRHE
Funder: Volker Fitzpatrick
Ben Saunders – Wessex Archaeology
(Source: DES Volume 21)
OASIS ID: waherita1-386058
