Kincraig Battery

[Part of NT49NE 44]

A moss-, grass- and bramble-grown, rubble-filled tank is terraced into the north facing scarp of Kincraig hill 30m WSW of the Battery Plotting Room (NO40SE 1221) and 12m E of the debris from the demolished E Engine House (NO40SE 1219). The tank forms part of the Kincraig Battery (NT49SE 44). It is rectangular on plan and measures 5.8m from E to W by 2.3m transversely over brick walls reaching at least 0.4m in depth. A second grass- and bramble-grown depression (NO 46826 00005) is situated 2m to its W. It also appears roughly rectangular on plan and measures 6m from E to W by 3.6m transversely and 0.4m in depth.

The surviving tank and a tank on the site of the depression are shown on an aerial photograph of the battery flown on 1 August 1940 (Barclay and Morris 2019, 217, fig 12.2) and on another (M/081/E309 02242) flown on 6 April 1941. They are also depicted on a plan of the battery in the Fort Record Book (WO 192/255) held by the National Archives at Kew, dated December 1941, where they are respectively denoted a ‘Tank’ and ‘Petrol Store’. The same description also appears on a plan of the battery’s layout entitled ‘Secret Copy No.7’, dated ‘22.7.42’, which is also included in the Fort Record Book. In addition, they are clearly shown on a later aerial photograph (106G/Scot/UK/0004 6163) flown on 14 April 1946, when both appear to have been camouflaged by a grass capping.

Visited by HES Archaeological Survey (A. T. Welfare, J. M. Hepher), 8 November 2023