Ask the average person what they know about Gretna in Scotland, just over the border from England, and most likely the answer will be that it's that romantic place where people used to elope to and get married over the blacksmith's anvil, i.e. Gretna Green. *
That is certainly true, but Gretna was also part of what was known as the "Debatable Land", a dangerous no-man's-land region between England and Scotland who had so often been at war with one another. In the 16th Century, it also became the haunt of the infamous Reivers who held no allegiance to either side and ruthlessly raided, pillaged and laid waste to much of the countryside on both sides of the Border. It wasn't a place where you would venture willingly.
That is certainly true, but Gretna was also part of what was known as the "Debatable Land", a dangerous no-man's-land region between England and Scotland who had so often been at war with one another. In the 16th Century, it also became the haunt of the infamous Reivers who held no allegiance to either side and ruthlessly raided, pillaged and laid waste to much of the countryside on both sides of the Border. It wasn't a place where you would venture willingly.
In the early 20th Century, the region again became a deadly no-go zone as factories were built along the River Esk for the manufacture of munitions for the First World War.
And so Gretna then became the place where they stirred the "Devil's Porridge", or Cordite.
And so Gretna then became the place where they stirred the "Devil's Porridge", or Cordite.
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| Hand-mixing Cordite (note no gloves!) Copyright Devil's Porridge Museum |
This was a mixture of gun-cotton (nitro-cellulose), nitro-glycerine, sulphuric and nitric acids. When detonated in shells and bullets it would burn, produce gas and explode.
It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) who was said to have given the process the name of the "Devil's Porridge" when he was one of the few journalists allowed to witness the work in which women were employed to stir the stuff with their hands before it was packed and transported to shell-making factories elsewhere. At the peak of the War, up to 1,000 tons of cordite were produced every week.
It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) who was said to have given the process the name of the "Devil's Porridge" when he was one of the few journalists allowed to witness the work in which women were employed to stir the stuff with their hands before it was packed and transported to shell-making factories elsewhere. At the peak of the War, up to 1,000 tons of cordite were produced every week.
Thousands of workers, most of them young women, were recruited to this work of "feeding the hungry guns". But like all munitions work it could be deadly. Turning the cordite with bare hands, their skin turned yellow due to the sulphur component and their bones suffered, with many of them having their teeth fall out.
Those female munitions workers who stirred that porridge are largely unsung and forgotten now but without them there would have been no shells, no eventual victory.
At a time when women were grateful to have well-paid regular work as well as being of the firm belief they were doing their patriotic duty and contributing to the war effort, few of them were likely to have been troubled by any moral conscience in knowing that what they were stirring would go on to kill and maim millions.
At a time when women were grateful to have well-paid regular work as well as being of the firm belief they were doing their patriotic duty and contributing to the war effort, few of them were likely to have been troubled by any moral conscience in knowing that what they were stirring would go on to kill and maim millions.
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| Getting right into it! Copyright Devil's Porridge Museum |
A lighter side to the deadly manufacture in these postcards:
(Images and information from the Devil's Porridge Museum in Scotland, also see the following links.)
* You can still get married at Gretna Green today if you so fancy!
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