Gretna, Hm Factory, Eastriggs Exoplosives Factory, Glycerine Distillery

Canmore ID: 373533

NY26NW 92

NY 24633 65212

This grass- and tree-grown building platform is situated 50m SW of the S range of the Bag Washing Plant (NY26SW 38.14) and immediately adjacent to a shallow railway cutting in the boggy ground to the W. It is rectangular on plan and measures 96m from N to S by 41m transversely overall and 1.2m in height. The sides of the platform are of coursed masonry and close to the NW corner there are the foundations of two flights of steps that presumably led to entrances. There are two compartments of a small brick-built structure on the N side of the building, to the E of which there are the foundations of a broad entrance that is approached by a low embankment. This allowed a standard gauge railway to enter the building. The concrete floor is heavily grass- and moss-grown, but within the interior to the E of the railway line there are two low concrete walls up to 0.7m in height that probably supported machinery. Similar supports further to the S are situated W of the railway line. There are also traces of closely spaced low brick support walls running from E to W in the central and S part of the building. These measure up to 0.45 in width and 0.4m in height. However, one of the walls is more stoutly constructed than the others and this divides in half the S two-thirds of the building.

There are traces of a small brick building comprising at least two compartments immediately adjacent to the N side of the building platform (NY 24631 65254). To the E there is an enclosure containing the poorly preserved remains of a building, which is connected to a substantial, but partly robbed chimney base to its N. The latter is octagonal on plan and measures 7.8m in diameter within brick walls 2.3m in thickness and 3.4m in height. Its SW side is pierced by a substantial arch and there are smaller examples on the W and N. The wall forming the E side of the enclosure is exceptionally sturdy, as it revets rising ground on which are the traces of another very low embankment for two standard gauge railway lines. There are steps on the S side of this enclosure that lead up to higher ground and 30m to the S is a pronounced circular grass-grown depression (NY 24667 65168). Grass-grown building debris is visible within a hollow in the scarp 20m SE of the building (NY 24670 65145) and there is also a grass-grown concrete floor (NY 24665 65251) to the E of the NE corner of the building.

The large building is identified as a Glycerine Distillery on a plan of, and in text referring to, the site (MMW 1919, plan, 23-34) given with a Ministry of Munitions of War report outlining the processes involved in the manufacture of the cordite propellant during the First World War at H.M. Factory, Gretna (Site 3). The report describes how glycerine was extracted from fatty materials (both animal and plant based) acquired from the soap making industry using steam distillation. This refined glycerine was then used in the nitration process elsewhere on the site. The plant also treated the by-products from the distillation process which, in turn, were redistilled to yield more refined glycerine. However, an undated plan (SUPP 10-39) held in the National Archives at Kew shows that the brick building to the N was a laboratory and the building within the enclosure to the E was a boiler house. It also shows that the circular depression at the SE corner marks the former location of a water large tank which supplied water for various processes. In addition, it shows that there were small buildings to the SE and SSE. A series of descriptions of blueprints (SUPP 10-16, 3026; SUPP 10-19, 3533; SUPP 10-19 3534; SUPP 10-19, 3535; SUPP10-19, 3545), as well as some blueprints (SUPP 10-35, 3396; SUPP 10-26, 3533; SUPP 10-26, 3545; SUPP 10-27, 3695), together with ground-based, contemporary official photographs taken during and after construction (Pearson Collection, 10, 21, 35; MUN 5-239, 50; Pearson Collection 65, 88, 102; MUN 5-297 pt1, 124; MUN 5-297 pt2, 139; MUN 5-297 pt1 193, 194, 195, 203, 227, 228, 243, MUN 5-297 pt2, 244, 302, 303; MUN 5-297 pt5, 699; Pearson Collection 700, 702, 703; panorama 710A, 710B; MMW 1919, between pp. 34-5, image 700), also held at Kew, illustrate the character of the building. These sources show that it was a single storey, double bay, stone walled building, with timber ridged roofs clad with a rubberoid material and vents that ran the full length of each bay. There were three equally spaced doorways in the N part of the W elevation and one further S, above which there was a scarcement and 26 windows arranged in pairs. The E elevation had a similar arrangement except where broken by the boiler house and its chimney. By contrast, there were at least four windows in the N elevation to the W of the main doorway by which the train entered the building, while there were five windows and two broad doors in the S elevation. Internally, the building was divided into two unequal parts. The W section comprised four compartments, the largest of which lay to the S and was a store for crude glycerine. To the N of this lay a slightly smaller compartment for refined glycerine, beyond which there was another for Foots Recovery plant (where glycerine residue from the stills was collected). There were two smaller compartments N of this, one for the storage of pyrites and the other was occupied by a sulphate plant. The E section comprised one large room running the full length of the building. This contained four stills to the W of the railway line and two to the E, together with concentrators and tanks. These sources also show that the boiler house was of timber construction with a ridged roof and a long vent. The N and S elevations contained three large windows, while there were only two in its E elevation. A steel chimney rose from the brick base to its N. They also indicate that there was a platform running along the W side of the building allowing the drums of crude glycerine to be unloaded from the railway. These were then stored on the open ground to the S before being transferred to the Dump House (NY 24617 65161) attached to the SW corner of the building. Nearby was a sample room (possibly NY 24641 65154) which monitored the quality of the crude glycerine, while the grass-grown depression to the E of the distillery’s SE corner marked the site of a large steel water tank. The grass-grown hollow with building debris was an L-shaped building, while a small Laboratory (NY 24631 65255) was situated on the N side of the distillery. After the refined glycerine had been prepared it was sent by railway to the Nitro-glycerine plant on the each of the five Nitro-glycerine Hills.

The Glycerine Distillery, the Dump House and the Boiler House, together with ancillary structures including the railway track, sidings and land, were offered for sale by auction as part of lot 505 on 22-5 July 1924 (HM Treasury 1924, 96-100; Carlisle City Archives, DX 170/38). They were purchased by Messrs James Jackson & Co Ltd, St Vincent Street, Glasgow (Carlisle City Archives, DX 2040/3). The catalogue adds that the height of the Distillery was 9m, with rows of stills and condensers for refining crude glycerine. After the removal of the building from the site, only the Distillery, the Dump House, the Boiler House and possibly the Laboratory were left in place, and these are readily visible on an aerial photograph (M124/13 04127) flown on 19 August 1940.

Visited by HES Heritage Recording (MMD and ATW), 7 April 2022

GLYCERINE DISTILLERY AND YARDS

This Glycerine Distillery and its Store Yards (NY26NW 92) are located in the W part of the First World War National Factory, Gretna (Site 3: Eastriggs) to the N of a Grillo Oleum plant (NY26SW 38.1) and to the E of Workshops (NY26NW 91). Its function was to produce refined glycerine (dynamite grade glycerine) for the nitroglycerine production process which was carried out on the five Nitroglycerine Hills (NY26SE 16.1-16.5) to the E (MMW 1919, 23-34).

The raw glycerine was refined from soap lye crude and saponification crude, which was obtained from soap makers and oil refiners elsewhere. This was delivered to the factory via the branch of the Glasgow and South Western railway, which entered the site from the N. The iron drums of crude glycerine were unloaded by steam crane, weighed and piled up in the storage ground on the SW side of the distillery. This could hold 10,000 drums. The raw glycerine was sampled to establish its quality before the drums were rolled into the crude glycerine dumping house and emptied into chutes. The empty drums were then steam cleaned and sent to another storage ground situated to the S of the building.

The crude glycerine was pumped from the chutes into twenty storage tanks and then to the Still Feed tanks. These were in the Still House where there were three sets of six stills. This was where the refined glycerine was produced. The residues (known as Sweet Waters and Foots) were run off into tanks below the stills. The Sweet Waters were redistilled to recover glycerine, while the Foots were pumped to a storage tank and treated with ferric sulphate to remove residual impurities. The latter was made on site using acids from the Grillo and the Mannheim Oleum plants (NY26NW 38.1, NY26NW 38.2) situated to the S of the Distillery.

The refined glycerine from the glycerine stills was filtered and pumped to the Refined Storage Tanks situated in a large room on the W side of the building. This contained ten large tanks, each supported on brick piers. All the tanks discharged into a single main from which pipes delivered the glycerine into drums. The filled drums were loaded into special railway wagons, eight drums in each, and conveyed by rail to the Nitroglycerine Hills (NY26SE 16, 16.1-16.5). A sample of the refined glycerine was sent to the Central Laboratory (NY26SW 38.34) to ensure quality.

Apart from the Still House, there was a Boiler Plant attached to the E side of the building which contained three boilers to provide the steam used in the distillation process. The coke used in the boilers was brought from the Coke Crusher plant (NY26NW 93) situated immediately to the N of the distillery. In addition, there was a small laboratory attached to the N side of the building and a large water tank outside it to the SE.

Information from HES Heritage Recording (MMD, ATW), 18 May 2023.