Monument record MHG56911 - Inter-war fuel tanks - Seabank tank farm, Invergordon

Royal Navy Port Fuel Depot, Invergordon. A large number of brick, concrete and steel fuel tanks for the Royal Navy, constructed in several phases between pre-1913 and the 1960s. Four tanks were built in the inter-war period to provide fuel for naval ships who used the port. They augmented 10 situated to the west which were completed in 1913 (see MHG30324) and thirty-one to the north completed during WWI. (see MHG36549 for overview)

Site visited in 1999 by J A Guy during work for the Defence of Britain Project. Brick, concrete and steel RN fuel tanks for Naval port. Piers and oil tanks and many other buildings. <1> The inter-war tanks are not specifically mentioned, however.

Martin Briscoe has uploaded photographs of the fuel tank site to the Highland HER Flickr group. The images are not linked directly to this record, as it is not clear if any of the photos relate specifically to the WWI tanks, but follow the link to the Flickr group (at the bottom of this record) to see further comments and see MHG36549 for the photos. <2>

The inter-war tanks were visited and photographed in 2015 as part of the ARCH project 'Invergordon in World War I'. The tanks in the Seabank Tank Farm numbered 43-46 do not appear on WWI plans but are depicted on a plan from 1934. They were constructed on the sites of some WWI buildings, and had prominent berms around them. On an aerial photograph in the collection of Invergordon Museum (2005.AMS.0009), and which dates to the early 1960s, tank 45, NGR 271112 868800, is black unlike the other tanks. However, in a 1947 aerial photograph (ncap.org.uk) the tank is like others in the farm. <3>

The whole of the tank farm was considered for listing at Category A by Historic Environment Scotland in 2016. <4>