Monument record MHG56087 - Concrete Perimeter Roadway - Evanton Airfield, Alness

This road was noted by ARCH's Evanton Wartime Remains project in 2013. A concrete roadway was reputedly constructed for the photography/dark room van in the early airfield in the 1920s <1>. Parts of this roadway survived in bits and pieces down at the shore near the pillbox (eg NH 62789 66704). The road prevented the narrow wheels of the van sinking into soft ground. In addition to visible remains some of the roadway was under Technip. The southern part of the roadway was bulldozed after the war when the area was purchased by Novar.
The roadway dates to before WW2 <1>. It was marked on the RAF plan of 1946, and appears on aerial photographs from the 1940s. Alan Kinghorn cycled along the roadway in 1958/9 when the camp was closed.
The photographic van was a dark room, used to develop plate negatives. Pictures survived of the van in <1> and at Alness Heritage Centre. It took photos of gunnery targets. Roddie Lovett remembers the van. His father was a photographer. Contributors: Eddie Szymborski, Alan Kinghorn, Willie Fraser, Alpin MacDonald, Roddie Lovett. <2>