Stirring up memories of the Devil’s Porridge
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Women at work at the greatest munitions factory on Earth in World War One
new exhibition is to honour the bravery, commitment and self sacrifice of those who travelled from all over the Commonwealth to the Scottish Borders to make the Devil’s Porridge during World War One.
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In the early years of the Great War a shortage of shells needed for the front caused a national crisis forcing the British government to step up production of munitions on a massive scale. The result was the the biggest
explosives complex in the world straddling the border between Scotland and England. HM Factory Gretna, as it was officially named, stretched from Eastriggs in Dumfries, through Gretna and over the border to Longtown in England. It was nine miles long and two miles wide.