Visitor Centre (former engine house)

The Visitor Centre is a two-storey, flat-roofed former engine house. It was built into a steep rocky slope by the War Office in 1916-17 when the military defences of Inchcolm Island were revised and strengthened, with the lower, advanced storey probably altered and adapted by the Office of Works in 1931-2.

The recessed upper storey is 9-bay, painted and rendered, with timber six over six sash and case windows and roof-top ventilators. The lower storey is of squared and snecked rubble, with lintelled openings, timber six over six sash and case windows and a concrete rooftop pedestrian terrace providing access to the upper storey.

The interior of the Visitor Centre was partially seen in 2016. The upper building contains staff offices, shop and a large display room that houses an early medieval hog back stone from Inchcolm Abbey. The lower building contains toilets and storage rooms.

To the southeast, the Generator House is another former engine house, built 1940-42. It is a single storey, rectangular plan, 2-bay, flat-roofed concrete building that is rendered and painted. There are air vents immediately below the roofline, steel window shutters on the front, (west facing) elevation, louvred steel window grilles on the north facing elevation and a steel door on the south facing elevation.

The interior of the generator house was not seen (2016).