Eastriggs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eastriggs is a Scottish village of approximately 2000 residents. It has a small number of shops, a restaurant, a post-office, a public house, a working-man's club and a church. Eastriggs Primary School acts as a communal centre, possessing a small library and providing consultation facilities for a weekly doctor's surgery.
Built in the Gothic style, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was dedicated in 1917, and was presented with a signed altar book the following year by King George V and Queen Mary who were paying an Official Visit to H.M.Factory Gretna.
Eastriggs is situated between Annan and Gretna; Annan is about 3 miles (5 km) to the west and Gretna is about 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Annan, Eastriggs and Gretna are each about 1 - 2 mile (1.5 - 3 km) north of the mud and sand banks of the channel of the River Eden, which extends west into the Solway Firth. Eastriggs is built on land which is 10 to 20 metres above sea level.
[edit] History
The Township of Eastriggs was created as a result of the shell and ammunition crisis of June 1915 which prompted the newly-founded Ministry of Munitions to create a new Cordite manufacturing facility.[1]
Eastriggs appears to take its name from the farm, or farm house, known as Eastriggs that was located in the middle of what was to become the new township.[2] The only other buildings in the area, prior to World War I, being: a goup of houses at Lowtherton (now North Road); a parallel group on what is now the B 721 road; an Inn and a smithy where East Road joins the B721.[2]
Officially designated H.M. Factory Gretna, the factory was spread over a 9 miles (15 km) site stretching from Dornock through Gretna to Longtown, Cumbria.[3] This required a huge influx of labour, and 30,000 men and women came from all over the British Commonwealth to serve as construction and factory workers.[4]
Sir Raymond Unwin, Chief Housing Architect of the housing branch of the Explosives Department of Ministry of Munitions, designed wooden housing for the workers in both Eastriggs and Gretna.[5] As a mark of respect for the immigrant work-force, the streets were named after various cities within the Commonwealth.[4]
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- reprinted one-inch Victorian Ordnance Survey Maps of Scotland (Sheet 6), Annan & Whithorn. 1st edition revised to 1896. Kyle of Lochalsh: Caledonian Maps. ISBN 1-85349-006-7.
- Ordnance Survey Landranger Map (number 85) - 1:50,000 scale (1.25 inches to 1 mile)
- Ordnance Survey Explorer Map (number 323) - 1:25,000 scale (2.5 inches to 1 mile)
- Ministry of Munitions of War, (1918). H.M. Factory, Gretna: Description of Plant and Process. Dumfries: J Maxwell & Son for His Majesty's Stationery Office.
- Stratton, Michael and Trinder, Barrie (2000). Twentieth Century Industrial Archaelogy. London: E & FN Spon. ISBN 0-419-24680-0.
- Video/DVD, (1994). The Longtown Military Railway. Carnforth: Tele Rail.
