28 October 2009: Inchindown, Royal Naval Fuel Tanks

Inchindown fuel depot, found in the hills to the north of Invergordon, was built during the Second World War as a bombproof oil store for the Royal Navy – one of three constructed throughout Britain.  A four mile long pipeline linked the depot to the Royal Naval dockyard and port facility at Invergordon.  Had Britain’s ports been blockaded by Germany, these secure underground stores would have been the main sources of fuel for the Navy.

The Inchindown depot contains six storage tanks, five being 237m long, 9m wide and 13.5m high - each with the capacity to hold up to 5.6 million gallons of furnace oil - and a smaller sixth tank, which is 170m long. The first tank carries a plaque commemorating the date of completion of construction - February MCMXLI AD (1941).

The fuel could flow under gravity to Invergordon, and a main pumping station was built at Tomich to manage flow back to the storage cells.  To improve the flow in cold weather, heaters were installed at regular intervals along the length of the pipeline.

In September this year, as part of a Doors Open Day initiative driven by the Forest Heritage Scotland project, 40 members of the public were given a tour of the Inchindown depot by RCAHMS experts. The tour was so popular that spaces were booked out within 90 minutes and a specially arranged second tour took place in October. To see more photographs of Inchindown, use the link below.