Historic Environment Scotland has launched a public consultation on plans to make parts of a former Dumfriesshire First World War cordite factory site designated as a scheduled monument and to give others listed status.
The agency believes the complex of structural remains, buildings and archaeological deposits in low lying scrub land on the north shore of the Solway Firth, near Eastriggs, is of national importance.
And it wants to save what is left of the site for its “heritage significance”.
HES is encouraging the public to share their views online by November 3 at: https:/haveyoursay.historicenvironment.scot/heritage/eastriggs-world-war-one-cordite-factory-dumfries-g/
The national body describes the site a “relatively uncommon example of a military industrial complex established in response to a specific need – the large scale supply of components or war materials as part of the overall war WWI effort”.
And it contends that what remains of the facility will help experts understand the functions and processes of a major munitions factory operating at that time.
The site is seen as “a particularly good example of industrial scale chemical manufacturing in the early 20th century” and has research potential which could significantly contribute to understanding or appreciation of the past.
It could be the breakthrough that campaigners, including The Devil’s Porridge Museum, have been hoping for to give HM Factory Gretna national recognition and protect it for future generations.
Emma Gilliland, curator at the museum which tells the story of the factory and its workers, is delighted by the HES move.
She said: “The aim of scheduling is to preserve our most significant sites and monuments as far as possible in the form in which they have been passed down to us today.
“HES are also proposing to list the guardhouses and gate piers at the factory’s main entrance; these are amongst the few remaining original buildings on site. Listing protects historically important buildings from inappropriate future development.”
The remains of the factory for scheduling include the acids production area, a glycerine distillery, a gun-cotton processing area and a nitro-glycerine production area which includes 12 Second World War Nissen huts and their associated remains.
A spokesman for HES said: “They would make a significant contribution to our understanding and appreciation of the war effort during the First World War, specifically as a nationally significant munitions factory that produced the propellant, cordite, in vast quantities.
“The Eastriggs site was part of a huge factory complex known as His Majesty’s Factory Gretna, built in 1916/17. In its day, Gretna was known as ‘the largest factory in the Empire’.
“It was built to address a huge demand for munitions and it contributed to the United Kingdom and its allies’ success in the The outcome of the Great War.”
The site used to contain more than 300 separate buildings but only a few remain.
The annual output of cordite materials was projected at 40,000 tons and by 1917 the plant was producing 1,000 tons per week.
The HSE also believes the site – which brought together workers from across the Empire and created Eastriggs and Gretna – also contributes to understanding of the past in relation to workplace welfare, industrial health and safety, the growth of female workers.
