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Report - - Eastriggs Munitions Depot, Dumfriesshire – August 2019 | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Eastriggs Munitions Depot, Dumfriesshire – August 2019

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Bent Nails

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Less than a year into the First World War, Allied troops on the Western Front faced a shortage of artillery shells.

The dire situation led to what became known as the Shell Crisis of 1915 and the fall of the Asquith government.

The new coalition government set up a Ministry of Munitions to gear the whole economy towards the war effort.

HM Factory Gretna, according to Arthur Conan Doyle, was the newest, the largest, and the most remarkable of the forty new munitions factories in Britain. Its sole aim was to make cordite propellant, which fired soldiers' bullets and shells.

The factory spread over 9 miles covering the English-Scottish border from Dornock to Longtown, on the Solway Firth.

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Gretna and Eastriggs townships were built by 10,000 Irish navvies to accommodate the over 16,000 mainly female workers who would work shifts in the factories. The dangerous work went on 24 hours a day to ensure a constant supply of munitions to the front line.

Eastriggs was site 3, where the chemical processes took place to make the explosive paste, nicknamed the Devil's Porridge, to be sent to Mossband (site 2) to create cordite.

After the war the sites were sold off, only to be needed again in World War 2 for the storage and distribution of explosives. Eastriggs became a Central Ammunitions Depot (CAD).

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Following that war, the Eastriggs facility became a satellite depot of DSDA (Defence Storage and Distribution Agency) Longtown, housing 63 Explosive Storehouses (ESHs). Longtown is still an active site, with hundreds of ESHs.

In 2011 the site was mothballed, and the explosive materials transferred to Longtown.

The reception area has buildings dating back to the First World War.

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More wartime buildings remain further into the site.

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Much of the 25 miles of narrow-gauge railway track was removed in 2016 by a Worksop firm and sold to projects ranging from heritage tourism in London to a sugar cane plantation in Puerto Rico.

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Elsewhere more modern buildings remain sealed, with the massive site left for nature to enjoy.

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There's been hope the place could be developed, perhaps as a visitor centre or for nature tourism. However, the remote location and fears about contamination mean that for now, it remains undisturbed.
 
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Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Interesting history, nice externals, shame no internals. I personally wouldn't post with no internals, but some do. I do enjoy the wander & challenge, 9 miles is long though lol.

For me the internals are the best bit, but I found the write up interesting enough to read it all, and captions.
 

Bent Nails

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Thanks Jane.

For clarification, the whole complex was 9 miles long. The Eastriggs is about 2 miles long. That made the complex the largest factory in the world, and then the largest ammunition depot in Britain, and it's still owned by the MOD, with three rows of fencing to cross to gain access. Sorry not to bring you any internals!
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Thanks Jane.

For clarification, the whole complex was 9 miles long. The Eastriggs is about 2 miles long. That made the complex the largest factory in the world, and then the largest ammunition depot in Britain, and it's still owned by the MOD, with three rows of fencing to cross to gain access. Sorry not to bring you any internals!

Its ok re internals, I wouldnt wander on MOD land either. Interesting facts there, cheers :thumb
 

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