One of two lofty headlands which form the entrance to the Cromarty Firth, South Sutor lies at the northeastern tip of the Black Isle in Highland Council Area, 1¼ miles (2 km) east of Cromarty. The headland rises to 142m (465 feet). Extensive defences were built on South Sutor in 1913 to protect the Cromarty Firth anchorage and naval base at Invergordon
Artillery batteries were built here overlooking the narrow entrance to the Firth in 1913, protecting the naval base at Invergordon. Winston Churchill visited here in his role as First Lord of the Admiralty. Anti-aircraft guns were installed in 1939 and the battery remained in use through the Second World not being decommissioned until the naval base closed in 1956. The remains of an accommodation camp, the gun emplacements, observation posts and several associated structures remain extant.
An early example of an anti-submarine net was laid between North Sutor and South Sutor in 1914 and replaced by automatically-triggered mines and an associated detection loop during the Second World War.
The defences here are recognised as the most complete wartime coastal battery surviving in Scotland by Historic Environment Scotland and were recorded as a scheduled monument in 2019.
Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry
If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...
