Aberdeen City HER - NJ90SE0039 - PETERSEAT, TULLOS HILL

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNJ90SE0039
NamePETERSEAT, TULLOS HILL
NRHE Card No.NJ90SE20
NRHE Numlink 119951
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. NULL
Site Form Documentary Record Only
Site Condition Destroyed
Details Site of a camp for an anti-aircraft battery (NJ90SE0038) on the south side of Tullos Hill, converted and used as a German Prisoner of War (PoW) camp from 1945-48. Along the ridge of Tullos Hill runs a path beside which three concrete hut bases can still be seen. This hill is the site of a World War 2 anti-aircraft battery, much of which was used after the war as a Prisoner of War camp. Aerial photographs taken in 1946 and 1948 show the camp before its demolition. An excavation in January 2001 (NJ90SE0214) uncovered the remains of gun-emplacements, and the concrete floors of two buildings. These structures can be seen on the 1940s aerial photographs, which show the positions of eight gun- emplacements, five arranged in an arc around a command post and three in a separate group in the adjacent field. The floor of the command post had been sunk below ground level. This building would have been the siting for an identification (or spotter's) telescope, height or range finder and a predictor or mechanical computer which would have been used to predict the position of a target and plot the trajectory for the shell. Compact clay and clinker surfaces found on the excavation were probably the bases for buildings. Floor surfaces and building foundations were poorly preserved, partly because the area has been under plough for the last 50 years, but mainly because the buildings were dismantled very carefully and completely. Little demolition rubble (which might have included corrugated iron, concrete blocks, timber and bricks) was found, except in one large pit and it is possible that much of the demolition rubble was buried in this way. Part of the camp's tarmac road was uncovered during the excavation. This road would have led from the main gate to each of the gun- emplacements, around the command post and up to other parts of the complex. Following the excavation, archaeologists contacted Karl Roth, a former PoW who resided at the camp from 1945-8. He remembered fondly the people of Torry for whom he gardened and remembered the camp vividly. It was cold and windy on the top of the hill and the huts had basic beds and one heater. Food was plain but sufficient and the football games with the locals were thoroughly enjoyed. He has provided many memories and photographs of his time in the Nigg camp. A watching brief by Aberdeen City Council Archaeological Unit in 2009 during groundworks for a gas venting trench (NJ90SE0475) recorded some features of the camp. See NJ90SE0447 for 2011 evaluation.
Last Update15/02/2023
Updated Bycpalmer
CompilerACU
Date of Compilation13/09/2017

Google Map for NJ90SE0039

National Grid Reference: NJ 9545 0342



Event Details

Event DateEvent TypeOASIS ID
2009 Watching-Brief aberdeen3-70193

Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
CAMPSWORLD WAR IISITE OFA100
FOUNDATIONSHUT D100
CAMPSACCOMMODATIONSITE OFB100
CAMPSPRISONER-OF-WARSITE OFC100