Autumn travel: Stirring exhibits excite at The Devil's Porridge Museum

HM Factory Gretna, established that year by the British Government in response to reports of front-line troops running out of ammunition, ran nine miles long and at its peak, employed 30,000 “miracle workers”.

With four production sites and two purpose-built townships, the factory was not only a social experiment but is also said to have played a role in helping women secure the vote.

About 12,000 women were employed by the government-owned facility to carry out dangerous and harmful duties that included filling shells and mixing chemicals to create the explosive cordite – also known as devil’s porridge, a term coined by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who visited the factory as a war correspondent.

Young and unmarried women, who called themselves the Gretna Girls, would carry out most of the labour, and stayed in dormitories, where older, more middle class women were employed as matrons.

Additional employment was created in the towns by the government in the form of the Women’s Police Service, who looked after the Gretna Girls.

“For influential men like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, HM Factory Gretna changed his opinion of women’s suffrage,” explains Rebecca Short, curator at the five-star Devil’s Porridge Museum which now occupies some of the site. “Prior to the war, he was very against suffrage, but afterwards he wanted suffrage.

“However, you could argue that although the factory did advance the women’s vote, the people who got the vote in the People’s Representation Act weren’t the girls who were working at the factory doing the grunt work – the really dangerous work. They didn’t qualify when the law passed because they weren’t old enough or didn’t have property or qualifications.

“It did help move suffrage forward, but it didn’t give our Gretna Girls the vote, which is quite interesting really.”

The rich history of the factory and towns, which eventually became the modern town of Gretna and Eastriggs village, is told at The Devil’s Porridge Museum which opened its current venue in 2017.

The stories of many notable men and women who worked at HM Factory Gretna are on display, and Rebecca points to munitions worker Euphemia “Effy” Cunningham. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1918 for her role in saving a group of Gretna factory workers during a cordite explosion.

When the war ended later that same year, the British Government auctioned off much of the site, however, the museum has a selection of maps visitors can use to explore some of the structures still standing across Gretna and Eastriggs.

“You can see the buildings where the Women’s Police Service were headquartered, and some of the entertainment spaces that are still there,” Rebecca explains.

“All of the shops are still there so you can get a real feel for what it was like.”

The museum, which was the winner of the Best Visitor Attraction Experience in the West of Scotland at last year’s Scottish Thistle Awards, and a recipient of Tripadvisor’s 2023 Traveller’s Choice Award, offers a full day out with plenty of sensory experiences and activities.

The attraction’s ground-floor galleries have displays dedicated to WWI, detailing the trenches, HM Factory Gretna and life in the townships, while its first-floor covers the Second World War.

Rebecca adds: “We are situated right in the heart of Eastriggs, so we are dedicated to preserving and celebrating our communities’ significant historical legacy.

“We actively engage with families and those in the community, and we are a really family friendly museum with lots to do when you get here.”

Find out more at The Devil’s Porridge Museum.