Monument record MHG57018 - WWI Recreation Room - Dockyard Housing area, Invergordon

A WWI recreation room in the former dockyard housing area in Invergordon.

The site was investigated in 2015 as part of the ARCH project 'Invergordon in World War I'. A WWI Naval plan in private possession notes a large 'Recreation Room' building at the western edge of the dockyard accommodation area. It is likely to have been a timber building like the nearby hutments. It was gone by 1930, and by WWII this area had been landscaped to provide berms and depressions for the tanks. <1>

At least three versions of a WWI Naval plan survive, two in private collection which probably date to wartime, and one in the National Archives (MPI 1/641/4) which dates to 1921. On all three the buildings taken over or built by the Navy are shaded, but there are a few discrepancies between the plans. One of the plans in private collection has enlarged details, but only shows the Admiralty buildings and not others in the town. Valuation Rolls also indicate some buildings not shaded on our plans were taken over by the military. It is clear from contemporary photographs that the army built additional buildings, particularly north of Cromlet Drive. <2>