Gretna, Hm Factory, Eastriggs Explosives Factory, Acids Section, Screening House

Canmore ID 374387

NY26SW 38.5

NY 24657 64959

The foundations of this building are situated under dense deciduous woodland about 18m ESE of the Crusher House (NY26SW 38.4) and 14m to the WNW of Mannheim Oleum plant (NY26SW 38.2). Little more than three concrete footings for steel stanchions survive to mark the ESE side of the building immediately adjacent to the later narrow-gauge railway line (NY 26NW 46.27) that runs between it and the Mannheim Oleum Plant (NY26SW 38.2). However, substantial remains of the foundations that once supported the machinery inside the building survive. These comprise two parallel rectangular concrete rafts measuring 8m from WNE to ESE by 4.5 transversely. The ESE section rises to a height of about 2m, while the WNW section, distinguished by a large octagonal perforation in each raft, rises to a height of about 3.5m.

The building is described as a Screening House, although it is not identified on the plan of the site (MMW 1919, plan, 51, 55) given with a Ministry of Munitions Works report outlining the processes involved in the manufacture of cordite propellant during the First World War at H.M. Factory, Gretna (Site 3). It was here that the crushed pyrites was screened and sorted into three sizes. The pyrites was then conveyed into three separate bins which were fitted with hoppers under which were trucks on a narrow-gauge railway track. These trucks were then weighed and run into the Mannheim Oleum Plant. An undated plan (SUPP 10-39) in the National Archives at Kew confirms that the building fell within the area assigned to ‘Screening & Crushing’. A blueprint (SUPP 10-28, 3858) and a contemporary official ground-based photograph (which shows only the SW corner of the building) taken after construction (MUN 5-297 pt3, 500) and also held at Kew, illustrates the character of the building. These sources show that it had a ridge roof and that it was clad in corrugated iron sheets, with a conveyor running down from the Crusher House (NY26SW 38.4) situated to its WNW. The conveyor entered the Screening House half-way up its WNW elevation.

The Screening House fell into lot 504, which was offered for sale by on 22-5 July 1924 (HM Treasury 1924, 95; Carlisle City Archives, DX 170/38), when the ground was purchased by Messrs James Jackson & Co Ltd, St Vincent Street, Glasgow (Carlisle City Archives, DX 2040/3). Its foundations are visible on an aerial photograph (M124/13 04127) flown on 19 August 1940.

Visited by HES Heritage Recording (MMD and ATW), 5 April 2022.