Our stay in Hoddom over the May Day holiday gave me the opportunity to go somewhere I have wanted to visit for some time: The Devil’s Porridge Museum in Eastriggs, which tells the story of women munitions workers in the First World War. In 1915 Britain was losing the war through lack of ammunition, a problem which it fell to David Lloyd George to solve. As head of the Ministry of Munitions he commissioned new factories around Britain, the largest of which was at Gretna and Eastriggs where 30,000 people, including 12,000 women, worked in a factory 9 miles long. This became known as “the greatest factory on earth”.

And what about the name, Devil’s Porridge? The excellent Canary Girls site (which is raising money for a memorial to these women) explains it thus:

A substance called cordite was used to fill shells and was made from a mixture of guncotton, nitro-glycerine and Vaseline petroleum. These volatile and highly toxic mixtures were made by hand in large vats by female workers. In a short time, it turned their skin and hair yellow and they became known as the ‘canaries’. These women worked 12 hour shifts night and day and had very little if any training. The shells they filled with this toxic mixture were heavy and weighed between 10k and 50k. By 1917 the factory at Gretna was producing 800 tons of cordite per week.  Around this time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited the factory and it seems it was he who christened the cordite mixture, ‘the devil’s porridge’.

In recruiting women for this work, HM Factory Gretna management board stressed that it required “both attention and intelligence”, was “pleasant, healthy and not dangerous”, and that factory conditions were as “ideal as they possibly could be”. I leave you to make your own mind up about the veracity of these assertions (taken from info boards at the museum), but wages were high and, with their menfolk away fighting for their country, many girls and women probably wanted to do their bit for the war effort. Here are some of their recollections, again taken from museum info:

• Sometimes the girls were drunk from the fumes of the cordite, and had to be taken to the sick bay to sleep it off (Mrs Cooper)
• The particles of acid land on your face and make you nearly mad, like pins and needles only much more so, and they land on your clothes and make brown specks all over them, and they rot your handkerchiefs and get up your nose and down your throat and into your eyes (Mrs G M West)
• Whiffs of acid would keep coming over every now and again, and used to fairly take your breath away. My gums were all poisoned with the acid and I had to have all my teeth taken out (Mary Ellen Halliday)

Pleasant, healthy and not dangerous? I don’t think so! The museum does tell other stories, but as a women’s history enthusiast this was the part that appealed to me most. Below are a few other exhibits: the Mossband Clock which originally sat on top of the factory’s Central HQ; the Animal War Memorial with particular reference to carrier pigeons, dogs and horses; Sir James, an original WW1 fireless locomotive designed to safely transport the devil’s porridge; and a mural opposite the museum.

The Mossband Clock

Animal War Memorial

Animal War Memorial

Animal War Memorial

Sir James

Mural opposite museum

After lunch in the museum café, we drove down the Solway coast to Caerlaverock where we went for a walk taking in an iron age fort, the medieval ruins of Caerlaverock Castle, and the earthworks of its predecessor, some pretty woodlands, and salt marshes. First we climbed Ward Law to reach the fort. The bluebells were out in the woods at the top, and the views were attractive, if a bit hazy.

Infor board

Path uphill

Path uphill

Path uphill

At the top

Anabel at the top

Bluebell woods

View of Caerlaverock from Ward Law

View from Ward Law

View from Ward Law

We then made our way back down and headed for Caerlaverock Castle. As with many Historic Scotland properties, it remains closed for “high level masonry inspections” so we could only view it from the outside.

Caerlaverock Castle

Caerlaverock Castle

Continuing through woods behind the castle we came to the Old Castle Earthworks.

Old Castle Earthworks

Old Castle Earthworks

We passed this pretty cottage with its quirky garden sculptures.

Quirky cottage

Quirky cottage

Finally, we took time to explore the boardwalks of Caerlaverock Nature Reserve. The last image is a view back to Ward Law where we started our walk.

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve

Caerlaverock Nature Reserve

Looking back at Ward Law

This was a lovely day out and I highly recommend both parts to anyone visiting the area. The following day, we returned home from our long weekend – but we were soon out visiting castles again. Next time, I’ll tell you about two we actually could visit inside.

PS thanks to all who enquired after our health after my last post. Current covid status: still testing positive, but very faintly in my case. Hopefully we’ll both be clear by the end of the week!