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A modern building signposted 'The Devils Porridge Museum' with an arrow to the entrance stands behind a dry stone wall and a red postbox.
Dumfries and Galloway

The Devil's Porridge Museum

The museum of HM Factory Gretna, the greatest munitions factory of the First World War, where 30,000 people made the cordite nicknamed the devil's porridge.

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Welcome

During the First World War, the flat country around Gretna and Eastriggs was home to HM Factory Gretna, the greatest munitions factory on earth.

Some 30,000 people worked there, 12,000 of them women, making cordite, the explosive they nicknamed the devil's porridge. The Devil's Porridge Museum at Eastriggs tells their story.

Inside, the displays bring the factory and its people to life, from a nurse's uniform to the machinery of the work, and they show how the part women played helped win them the vote. The story runs on into the Second World War, and there are changing exhibitions, one of which looked at how the state took over Carlisle's pubs. Outside stand a camouflage-painted steam locomotive and an air-raid shelter.

The museum opens every day, with food and drink on site.

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Before you go

Open every day, 10am to 4.30pm; last entry 3.45pm.

Where
Eastriggs, near Annan, DG12 6TF.
Tells
HM Factory Gretna.
Workers
30,000, 12,000 of them women.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
10am–4.30pm
Tuesday
10am–4.30pm
Wednesday
10am–4.30pm
Thursday
10am–4.30pm
Friday
10am–4.30pm
Saturday
10am–4.30pm
Sunday
10am–4.30pm

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Did you know

A large wooden grinding wheel stands beneath a museum display board, a calendar-style panel and glass cases with archival documents visible behind steel display frames.
Did you know

Twelve thousand women.

Of the 30,000 people who worked at HM Factory Gretna, 12,000 were women.

A corrugated metal air-raid shelter sits half-buried in a grass mound beside a sign reading 'Dig On for Victory', a rusted steel panel and stone wall behind.
Did you know

A shelter in the garden.

An air-raid shelter stands in the grounds of the Devil's Porridge Museum.

Emily Rose Mawson

From our guide to Dumfries and Galloway

The term ‘devil’s porridge’ was coined by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he visited HM Factory Gretna (the largest munitions factory in the world during WW1) in 1916 and saw young women mixing a white, lumpy mixture that he thought looked like porridge. This award-winning museum close to Gretna gives fascinating insights into World Wars One and Two, and the Cold War, focusing on the role of young women.

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Where it is

On the Annan road at Eastriggs, between Annan and Gretna, DG12 6TF.

Close byEastriggs.
  1. Annandale DistilleryAnnandale DistilleryWhisky near Annan.5 miles 10 min by road
  2. Grassy shoreline overlooking mudflats and distant hills across the firthThe Annan Shore WalkA shore walk at Annan on the Solway, past Waterfoot, the old port where emigrant ships once sailed for North America.5 miles 8 min by road
  3. Gretna Green Guided TourGretna Green Guided Tour5 miles as the crow flies
  4. Handfasting at Gretna GreenHandfasting at Gretna Green5 miles as the crow flies
  5. Gretna Green Famous Blacksmiths ShopGretna Green Famous Blacksmiths ShopThe famous wedding forge.5 miles 7 min by road
  6. Wading birds flock on shallow water, wings raised, reflected in golden lightWWT CaerlaverockGeese on the Solway.19 miles 26 min by road
Directions
Friends raise their tasting glasses round a barrel table at the First Sip of Scotland.ActivityThe First Sip of Scotland, Gretna Green4.5 miles
Visitors reach for samples at the First Taste of Scotland, jars and sauces on the counter in front of them.ActivityThe First Taste of Scotland, Gretna Green4.5 miles
A woman beams as she holds up the pair of entwined iron hearts she and her partner have forged.ActivityThe Couples Experience at the Gretna Green Forge4.5 miles
Three people in leather aprons and gloves work hot steel at their own anvils in the Gretna Green Forge.ActivityThe Smithy Experience at the Gretna Green Forge4.5 miles
The blacksmith works the big iron coin press at the Gretna Green Forge while a visitor in a striped jumper looks on.ActivityThe Forge Experience at Gretna Green4.5 miles
The whitewashed Famous Blacksmiths Shop with its arched window and black signboards, an old plough at left and clipped hedges in front.AttractionsGretna Green4.8 miles
The Big Dance, the giant steel clasped hands, in the Gretna Green square at sunset, with the black-and-white shops on the left and a crow on the cobbles.AttractionsThe Big Dance (the Clasping Hands), Gretna Green4.8 miles
Cottage room with black cast-iron range, tartan mantel and spinning wheel beside the windowAttractionsThomas Carlyle's Birthplace9.1 miles
Rounded hills rise behind a conifer plantation and grazing fields with sheepAttractionsBurnswark Hill11 miles

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