Document record MAB57877 - PETERSEAT, TULLOS HILL

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.

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.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 06/02/04 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 17/09/09 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 2010, REPORT ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL WATCHING BRIEF AT NESS FARM AND TULLOS HILL LANDFILL SITE, NIGG, ABERDEEN (Bibliographic reference). SAB6477.

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 2016, PETERSEAT, TORRY BATTERY AND ST FITTICK'S CHURCH, ABERDEEN (Bibliographic reference). SAB6419.

Apr 16 2046 , 106G/SCOT/UK/F20.540/7082, 106G/SCOT/UK/F20.540/7082 (Air-vertical Photograph). SAB36440.

Record last edited

Feb 15 2023 1:04PM