© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland
Rerwick Head is a coastal battery and camp constructed during the Second World War on the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The site occupies a strategically significant headland overlooking the northern waters around Orkney, positioned to defend against naval and aerial attack during wartime. The battery and its associated military camp remain visible today as physical evidence of the extensive fortification programmes undertaken across Orkney during the 1940s, when the islands formed a critical part of Britain's northern defences.
The site is built upon bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, formed during the Middle Devonian period, which comprises conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. This substantial geological foundation provided a stable base for the heavy defensive structures required by the battery, whilst the exposed headland location offered commanding views across the surrounding seascape. The eroded coastal geology would have presented both advantages and challenges to the military engineers tasked with its construction.
Today Rerwick Head is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM13556. The surviving remains of the battery and camp structures document an important chapter in Orkney's twentieth-century military history and the civilian experience of wartime defence across the northern British Isles. The site contributes to the wider archaeological record of WW2 fortifications distributed throughout these strategically vital islands.
Rerwick Head, coastal battery (WW2) and camp is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM13556. View the official record →
Rerwick Head is a coastal battery and camp constructed during the Second World War on the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM13556.
Rerwick Head, coastal battery (WW2) and camp is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM13556.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Castle Bloody,chambered cairn (4.8 km), Hillock of Howe,broch (5.2 km), Mor Stein or Standing Stone of Shapinsay (5.5 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Rerwick Head, coastal battery (WW2) and camp's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Rerwick Head, coastal battery (WW2) and camp stands on Middle Old Red Sandstone (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Middle Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.