Description

The monument is the remains of an anti-aircraft battery, radar site and associated accommodation camp, dating from the Second World War. It is visible as a series of concrete structures, hut bases, timber posts and associated earthwork and stone structures and pathways. It is located on Hill of Wards on South Walls at around 45m above sea level, overlooking Longhope Bay to the N and the Pentland Firth to the S, with good views in all directions.

This was one of a network of anti-aircraft batteries built to defend the strategic harbour of Scapa Flow, in this case overlooking the southern approaches to the Flow. The main battery comprises four 3.7 inch gun emplacements, with the remains of a command post, crew shelters, a gun-laying radar position with associated timber posts and metal fixtures for the hexagonal radar 'mat', and at least 13 concrete hut bases in a variety of forms, together with pathways and other surviving infrastructure.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan and includes the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction and use is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of all post-and-wire fences in the area to allow for their maintenance.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

This monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to our understanding of the past, in particular the aerial defences of the Second World War. This is a well-preserved example of an anti-aircraft battery utilising a strong strategic position, with an exceptionally well-preserved radar site attached, demonstrating the technological development in aerial defence during the Second World War. The monument offers considerable potential to study the relationship between the various elements of the site, and its relationship both with the other elements of the Scapa Flow defences and the wider defences in place around Orkney and beyond. The loss of the monument would significantly diminish our ability to appreciate and understand the construction and use of aerial defences in Scotland during the Second World War.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the moinument as ND38NW 23.01 and 23.02.

ReferencesBrown, I 2002, 20th-Century Defences in Britain: an Introductory Guide. Council for British Archaeology, York.

Dobinson, C. 2001, AA command: Britain's Anti-Aircraft Defences of the Second World War. London: Methuen.

Canmore

https://canmore.org.uk/site/81777/
https://canmore.org.uk/site/141078/
https://canmore.org.uk/site/269887/

Source: Historic Environment Scotland