Angus HER - NO75NW0031 - MONTROSE AIRFIELD

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNO75NW0031
NameMONTROSE AIRFIELD
NRHE Card No.NO75NW31
NRHE Numlink 36244
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. 38228
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Incomplete
Details Remains of a military airfield. Montrose is the oldest military airfield in Scotland, established in 1912, becoming operational on February 26th 1913. It displays the hangar architecture of several periods. The three World War I hangars resembled the Belfast type, but were built entirely of timber with none of the usual brickwork. Known as Major Burke's Sheds (NO75NW0791, NO75NW0792, NO75NW0793), their design was that of an Indian Army Shed, modified for aircraft use, and they were pre-fabricated in Glasgow for assembly on site. They are large, and rectangular in plan. Buildings 46 and 47, (NO75NW0793, NO75NW0791) have original timber framing and corrugated iron cladding, which is now concealed by steel secondary cladding added in 1987-8. The southernmost, Building 48 (NO75NW0792), has a timber lean-to added during World War I. An air raid destroyed two of them and the Bellman replacements still stand today. To the north of the hangers are two other buildings from this period: a single storey timber long timber building (Building 62) with off centre gabled wing, which was built in 1915 and reused as Station HQ in World War II, and a single-storey timber built guard room (Building 142), in use by 1915. The airfield was abandoned after the First World War ended, but was reactivated during the 1935 Expansion Scheme, the land being bought back for £18,600. Being right on the coast, the airfield's vulnerability was obvious and in June 1940 hasty attempts were made to improve the defences - nine Type 27 anti-aircraft pillboxes were erected at strategic points on the boundary, each accommodating ten riflemen and one Lewis gunner. The airfield was also defended by Type 22 pillboxes and at least two Pickett-Hamilton forts ('pop up' pillboxes which could be lowered into the ground when not in use) close to the runways - two of these have been recorded at NO 7265460060. Two Bellman type hangers, designed in 1937, were subsequently added: Building 141 in 1937 and Building 151, now with steel cladding, in 1942. They are large, rectangular in plan and have sliding aircraft doors the full length of each gable. A ruined control tower and machine gun butts also date from World War II. The top storey of the tower has been crudely demolished, probably to remove an obstruction to night helicopter training. A now disused railway runs past the airfield and a bridge over it was fortified with an elaborate pillbox with an AA gun mount on its roof. This was the original Battle HQ, replaced later by a standard building on the eastern perimeter. It has been partially demolished. Wartime runways were of army track and sections of this are now peeping through the grass. Since the RAF vacated the airfield soon after the war, it has been used occasionally by light aircraft, BA helicopters for night training and by RAF Hercules. The original Montrose aerodrome was sited at Upper Dysart, next to the A92, about three miles south-west of the town. Dysart was never more than a tented camp with canvas hangars, and existed for only about 12 months. A better site at Broomefield was found and operations were moved there. A landing ground known as Dysart was used by Montrose aircraft in the 1930s but was, however, on a different site. Montrose is now a centre for microlight flying. Two of the World War I hangars have been dismantled and were to be re-erected at the railway museum at Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth. A watching brief was carried out in 2001 by Headland over a pipeline through the site and the construction of a new waste water plant in the north-west corner of the airfield (NO75NW0190). Many artefacts dating from World War II were uncovered. A building survey of a fuel bunker and associated air raid shelters on the south edge of the airfield (at NO 7919 5913) was carried out by Rathmell Archaeology in 2013 prior to demolition for construction of five houses on the site. The two air-raid shelters were both constructed using the shuttered concrete method, aligned east-west and rectangular in shape with a roof access hatch located at the eastern end which was the opposite end of the main access. There was a large build-up of soil within the main access which meant that it was not possible to record whether there were steps down into or whether it was a level access. The fuel bunker was a single storey structure with a flat roof formed of concrete with areas covered by bitumen to provide waterproofing. The body of the structure was constructed of red brick.
Last Update05/05/2023
Updated Bycpalmer
CompilerAAS
Date of Compilation23/11/2009

Google Map for NO75NW0031

National Grid Reference: NO 7237 5974



Event Details

Event DateEvent TypeOASIS ID
2001 Watching-Brief
2013 Building Recording rathmell1-146410

Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Date MDate YArtefact TypeFinderRecovery MethodConditionStorage LocationAccess No.
 2001 WATER BOTTLES Excavation  
 2001 GAS MASKS Excavation  
 2001 HELMETS Excavation  

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
HANGARS  B100
CONTROL-TOWERS REMAINS OFC100
PILL-BOXES TYPE 27D100
MASKSGAS F100
HELMETS  G100
BOTTLESWATER H100
PILL-BOXES REMAINS OFI100
BUTTSSHOOTINGREMAINS OFJ100
PILL-BOXES TYPE 24O100
AIRFIELDSWORLD WAR IIREMAINS OFN100
SHELTERSAIR-RAIDREMAINS OFK100
EMPLACEMENTSGUNREMAINS OFL80
BUNKERSFUELBRICKM100
AIRFIELDSWORLD WAR IREMAINS OFA100