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MHG27885 - Fleet Air Arm Camp, (Admiralty) Administrative Control Area - Evanton Airfield, Alness

Summary

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Type and Period (1)

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Full Description

Centred 6261 6708

Little of the original buildings remain in the Fleet Air Arm Camp, (Admiralty) Administrative Control area. Many of the buildings and hangars have been replaced by more modern industrial units, though the concrete bases are still in some cases extant, a new road has been cut through the area to connect with the industrial estate to the N of the A9 trunk road via an underbridge.
This area incorporated a diverse range of technical and administrative buildings, notably four possible Bellman hangars, five Blister hangars, classrooms, officers quarters, motor transport offices, rest rooms and several machine gun posts.
Visited by RCAHMS (DE) January and May 1997

This site was noted during ARCH's Evanton Wartime Remains project in 2013. This area included the site of the first airfield at Evanton (situated near the modern MacGas premises at the time of this project), stringing along the millstream and old road, and bounded by the present course of the Big Burn, but in wartime years defined by a copse of trees. The Big Burn had a different course during the war years, turning towards the present Blythswood premises and from there down to the sea. Aerial photographs and maps show that the course at the time of the project was made in the 1960s.
This area was developed in the late 1930s. The buildings near Blythswood (NH 62550 67206) appear to have belonged to the Fleet Air Arm throughout the period. Those to the east, near the original site of the first airfield, appear to have been part of RAF Evanton or shared, since they are numbered and labelled on the RAF map dated 1946 (RAF Museum: MPC77/1/449, copy in Alness Heritage Centre).
On the original site of the pre WWII airfield, but to the north of the mill stream (see Site 1), there were a number of buildings including officers’ quarters, mess rooms, offices, stores first aid post, workshops, motor transport, and a garage ambulance, built as part of the expansion of the airfield in the late 1930s. The road from the pre WWII camp was still maintained, and buildings were oriented on it. The mill stream beside it was culverted to the west, but open to the east. Three bridges over the mill stream survived at the time of this project, including a large one at NH 6254 6706 leading to the Parade Ground and a smaller one at NH 6259 67085, which did not appear on the plans, but may have been for vehicles and can be seen in a photograph from the late 1930s. Foundation remains were felt by probing below the grass in places, especially in the area of the mess rooms. Many of the buildings in the pictures of the late 1930s were of timber and raised above the ground. No traces remained of these. There was rubble from buildings on either side of the course of the Big Burn at the time of this project, and in one case, at NH 62464 67170 there were pipes in the embankment, suggesting this area was built on, as the 1946 plans suggest. A line of bricks from a building were also seen at NH 62463 67153. The area to the northwest was a ploughed field, and this has destroyed remaining traces of buildings in this area. Traces of the road defining the edge of the camp in this area could still be seen on Google Maps.
Further to the east, near the current Blythswood compound, there were hangars and workshops, which appear always to have belonged to the Fleet Air Arm. Three Bellman hangars were in the area near Blythswood, and a fourth hangar, possibly a Bellman, was built on the site of the original airfield and used for Receipt & Dispatch. There are three blister hangars at the western end of the area, and two Mainhill hangars just to the north.
The grid reference for the area is centred on NH 62526 67083. <1>

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Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NH 6247 6714 (504m by 416m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NH66NW
Geographical Area	ROSS AND CROMARTY
Civil Parish	ALNESS

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