Devil’s Porridge Museum

📌 Eastriggs, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★

Nine miles of land between modern-day Gretna and Eastriggs was once the site of the UK’s largest cordite factory, producing over 800 tonnes of explosives each week during the second half of World War I. The author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once described the product of the manufacturing process, mainly carried out by young women by hand, as “a sort of devil’s porridge” due to its consistency and dangerous properties. Hence the name of this outstanding, well-presented museum in one of the townships created to house the workers. The museum tells the story of the factory and region alongside the context of bleak, UK-wide wartime history, with passionate staff who gave us a fascinating introduction before leaving us to browse the smart exhibition spread across two floors.