Naval defences, unlike those typically constructed by land forces, are often impermanent or invisible: floating blockades deployed across the surface of the water or mines laid deep beneath it. This reality can pose real challenges for the interpretation of such historic sites, despite their significance or wider appeal. Remnants of the River Forth's defensive past can still be seen, however, and the landscape explored, if you know where to look.
In The fortification of the Firth of Forth 1880–1977: ‘The most powerful naval fortress in the British Empire’, the latest monograph to be published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, authors Gordon Barclay and Ron Morris tell the relatively unknown story of the development of this defended estuary. Drawing on their ongoing research into Scotland's late nineteenth- and twentieth-century defensive installations, Barclay and Morris have produced a comprehensive study of the complex network of temporary and permanent structures that protected the Firth of Forth for almost a century.
This is a vast landscape, defined by the authors as covering some 500km2, and one of major significance in British naval history; never more so than during the First World War when the Firth of Forth was the base of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the location of the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. While this book covers only a short period of the Forth's long strategic and military history, it is impressively deep, discussing myriad defences constructed on over 20 island and coastal positions across a 90-year period. In achieving this, the authors present extensive evidence drawn from archival records, fieldwork and oral histories. Furthermore, as with many of the monographs produced by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the publication is richly illustrated with well-sourced maps and aerial photographs, historic site and building plans, archival photographs and contemporary colour photographs documenting the current condition of the remaining defences.
The book is structured in three parts: the first is a general introduction, which is followed by a history of the Forth estuary's naval defences from 1854–1977, before an exhaustive exploration of the individual histories of the artillery positions built to defend the Firth. With a set of sites as complex as those explored in this book, the need for a well-written introduction is paramount. Barclay and Morris succeed in this, providing a comprehensive description of the many and varied deterrents and weapons that were positioned or built, and a clear overview of the defensive landscape. Unfortunately, however, what follows is less successful in communicating the significance of this landscape. In particular, the monograph's second part, which charts the development of the Firth of Forth into a naval fortress, but does so with a focus that is too narrow. This is a recurring issue, and overall the book lacks sufficient reference to the broader military historical context within which the Forth is situated, leaving the reader unable to appreciate fully the nature of the defensive developments and adequately judge their importance and success. As a result, the final part of the monograph, which provides an in-depth examination of the histories of the individual artillery batteries, can feel somewhat repetitive. Moreover, both the structure and style of the text often leave the reader wishing for a better balance between description and interpretation; this is perhaps most needed when intra-naval and inter-service tensions around strategy are repeatedly mentioned but never developed to a level that enables a satisfactory understanding of the drivers behind the creation of the British Empire's most powerful system of naval defences.
Despite its limitations, this book remains a thoroughly well-researched and invaluable record of one of the nation's most important military landscapes; all the more significant as this is a landscape that, in the main, has vanished or is in the process of disappearing. Rather remarkably, a study of this scale has never been undertaken on the Forth's later defences, with smaller studies limited to a handful of articles in the journals of special interest groups. The authors must, therefore, be commended for drawing critical attention to this story and bringing it to a broader readership.
This monograph will undoubtedly find a sizable readership amongst both historians and archaeologists, particularly those with an interest in British military and strategic history, and battlefield archaeology. Archaeologists looking for a text that builds on recent developments in contemporary and historic archaeology, however, may be disappointed by the lack of engagement with the literature of this and other cognate areas of scholarship. Given the newfound role of the Forth estuary as an internationally recognised seabird sanctuary, the book will also appeal to naturalists seeking further information on the places their interests inhabit.
Particularly welcome is the inclusion of information on the present survival of the naval fortifications that remain on the islands and coastlines of the Forth. This, along with information on site access, Ordnance Survey National Grid references and Canmore site numbers provide readers wishing to visit the sites with indispensable information on where to find them and what to expect. Ultimately, readers with an existing knowledge of the Firth of Forth will likely get the most out of this book, and while they may not be eager to read it cover to cover, the depth and quality of the research contained within ensures that Barclay and Morris have succeeded in producing a book that will become both essential reading and a dependable companion for all those seeking to explore this period of the estuary's remarkable history.
