Forth Defences, Middle, Inchcolm, Military Camp

A map of the first phase of defence of Inchcolm in 1915 shows the location of the accommodation for the garrison. Whereas the accommodation camp of the Second World War seems to have clustered in the south-west part of the island, the First World War hutments lay more to the east of the abbey ruins, in the central part of the island. The map (The National Archives WO78/4417) shows four long huts, lying E/W, labelled ‘Men’s hutments’ and ‘Canteen’. There are three further smaller buildings around them. Three smaller huts lie just to the NW of the abbey, with a single longer hut labelled ‘Men’s hutment’. Two small buildings, one labelled ‘Submarine (Naval) Offrs. Qrs’ lie to the south of the ruins. Part of the SW side of the Abbey was used as accommodation for officers. A photograph in the collection of RCAHMS, supposedly showing WW2 hutments, seems however to show the First World War group of huts to the east of the abbey. The good state of repair of the abbey roof in this image suggests that it may have been taken after the ruins came into state care in the 1920s - one may speculate that the military hutments were being reused to accommodate the Ministry of Works conservation team. The huts do not appear on the 1941 aerial photographs of the island.

Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 15 August 2013.