The vital role Gretna and Eastriggs played in WW1 should be fully recognised during next year’s commemorations to mark the outbreak of hostilities in 1914.
This is the firm view of local MP David Mundell following his recent visit to the Devil’s Porridge, the local visitor centre and exhibition that explains the remarkable wartime experiences of this part of Dumfries and Galloway.
Located here was HM Factory Gretna, an immense military-industrial complex, at the time the largest munitions factory ever built. Begun in great secrecy in 1915, yet stretching 9 miles (14 km) from Dornock in the west to Longtown over the English border in the east, it was located well away from German bombing and prying eyes but close to existing railway links and the Canonbie and Sanquhar coalfields.
The site included 'new towns' at Gretna and Eastriggs, housing a workforce of 30,000, together with an administrative centre also at Gretna.
“The story of the part played by Gretna. Eastriggs and the surrounding communities in WW1 must not be overlooked and next year’s commemorations provide an ideal opportunity to ensure this area’s vital WW1 role is given due prominence,” said Mr Mundell.
“There is already a local group established looking at how events in Gretna and Eastriggs can best be commemorated, but I want to ensure that local efforts during World War One are given the national significance they deserve and am touch with the Ministry of Defence and those organising the national commemorations which will go onto 2018. I also am working closely with those who want to ensure that the centenary of the Quintinshill Rail Disaster in 2015 when so many troops died is also properly marked.
"The Devil’s Porridge visitor centre is a fascinating place to learn about this portion of our forgotten history and I hope that next year, not only will we see a new Devil's Porridge Visitor Centre, but local efforts during World War One can take their true place in national history,” he added.
Early in the First World War, the Government realised Britain could lose due to a lack of ammunition, which was required in quantities never before imagined, and there was a public outcry. Thus, Gretna was built, to a remarkably tight schedule and at the massive cost of £9.3 million, to make cordite for bullets and shells.
The scale of the project was fantastic. It had its own railway network with 125 miles (201 km) of track and 44 railway engines, drawing 600 goods wagons daily; a 10.5-MW power station providing electricity for both factory and townships; a water treatment plant handling 10 million gallons per day; a telephone exchange that connected 2.5 million calls in 1918; kitchens which baked 13,000 loaves and made 14,000 meals daily, and a laundry that could clean 6000 items every day.
Opened in 1997 within St. John the Evangelist Church in Eastriggs, the Devil's Porridge visitor centre moved ten years later to its current location overlooking DM Eastriggs, a large ammunition store which now occupies part of the old factory site. Decorated with large murals, the centre also has a replica First World War trench together with exhibits on the Quintinshill Rail Disaster and life on the home-front, with a reconstruction of a state-managed pub and a typical Eastriggs red-brick house, dressed with furnishings from the 1940s to tell the story of the evacuees who came here during World War II. The contribution of SW Scotland during that period included the military port at Cairnryan and the innovative Mulberry harbours which were towed to France after D-Day.