Monument record MHG57030 - WWI E.E.'s Drawing Office and WWII commercial office - High Street, Invergordon

The WWI E.E.'s drawing office on the High Street, Invergordon. In WWII part of the building was used as the offices of the Highland Agricultural Company, with the northern part apparently a ruin.

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. In WWI the electrical engineer's complex was situated on the High Street, comprising a large workshop, and a drawing office to the west set back a bit from the High Street. In WWI the electrical engineer's complex was situated on the High Street, comprising a large workshop, and a drawing office to the west set back a bit from the High Street. To the south of these buildings was a small alley, with an office, a semidetached building containing an E.E. Store and an unlabelled function, and another unlabelled building built abutting the old girnal which was taken over to form part of the C.C.'s smithy. The buildings are depicted on the 1930 aerial photo. A plan from WWII shows a building on the site of the workshop, and the drawing office to the west is labelled Highland Agricultural Company Offices. The area to the north of the drawing office is labelled 'Ruin'. According to the plan, this area was not part of the military area. The 1947 aerial photo shows the workshop at that time to be two single-storey bays running east-west, with the building on the old drawing office running north-south. A WWI photograph in the collection of Historic Environment Scotland and available on the Canmore website canmore.org.uk shows two women and four men outside an office. On the door is the lettering […]E. DRAWING OFFICE'. This may refer to this drawing office or the S.C.E.'s drawing office at the corner of High Street and King Street. <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>