Monument record MHG57027 - WWI Boiler Shop - Invergordon dockyard

A WWI boiler shop in Invergordon dockyard.

The site was investigated in 2015 as part of the ARCH project 'Invergordon in World War I'. The Dockyard workshops to the south of High Street comprised a number of specialist workshops, some quite large. Plans from WWI and WWII in private collection allow functions to be assigned in some cases. On the 2nd edition OS map (surveyed 1902) this area is part of the Bone Works, but there is no building on this site. During WWI there is a large Boiler Shop, situated between a railway to the north running to the Fitting Shop, and a railway to the south leading to the east. An aerial photo from 1930 shows that the building was 3 storeys with two bays oriented north-south and possibly brick. It is the tallest surviving building in the workshop complex. The building was still there in WWII, where it appears black in aerial photos from 1947. An aerial photo from 1978 in the Invergordon Archive (no. 649) shows it, but one from the same year in the National Collection of Aerial Photography shows rubble where it had been. If the photographs are accuratedly dated, this suggests destruction in 1978. The shore road now runs through the site. <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>