Building record MHG57059 - WWI Dockyard Housing - Admiralty Cottages, Invergordon

WWI dockyard housing, previously known as Admiralty Cottages, in Invergordon.

The buildings were investigated in 2013 as part of a project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War and was carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS. The First World War map of the Invergordon Naval Base (in a private collection) shows the presence of a housing estate of 126 cottages arranged along six streets. The clear implication of the map is that the houses were built for dockyard personnel (six houses for the dockyard’s officers are marked separately to the SW). The housing complex comprises uniform single-storey semi-detached cottages, with small porches, each with their own garden. The houses survive largely as built, although some have accumulated extensions, conservatories etc. The roads are now known as Golfview Terrace, Grosvenor Street, Cadboll Road, Elliot Road, Murray Road and Inglis Road.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 2 August 2013.

The buildings were also investigated in 2015 as part of the ARCH project 'Invergordon in World War I'. <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>

During WWI, the dockyard employed over 4000 people, requiring new accommodation. The 126 houses were for married personnel and became known as the Admiralty Cottages. They were built by Cowieson and Co. of Dundee, and women were said to have been employed as builders. They are reputed to have only cost £100 each, designed to last for only a short period, but they remain today. <3>

Valuation Rolls show that all the houses were the property of the Admiralty until 1929-1930. After WWI some were used as storehouses for a time. <4>