School Grounds To Be Investigated

Ground investigation works are to be carried out at a primary school in Elgin next week, Moray Council has said.

The works come after recently-discovered aerial images suggested a wartime trench was previously on the site. The photograph, of what are now the playing fields at West End Primary School, were discovered by staff from the local authority's environmental health section when they were researching another site in the area. The image was taken during the Second World War and reveals what looks to be a military defensive trench, as well as a number of military trucks on the land. It is not thought that live ammunition training took place on the site, but that caches of weapons could have been buried.


A spokesperson for Moray Council said: "It is only thanks to the emergence of the photograph that we became aware of this trench and the plan is to undertake a comprehensive geophysical survey of the site. Any anomalies that the survey throws up will be excavated at the time and dealt with."

The work will commence on Monday (4 August) and is expected to last a couple of days. The Council has said it will be completed before the school re-opens after the summer break.

(JP/CD)