HM Factory, Gretna.

About HM Factory, Gretna

H.M. Factory, Gretna was Britain's largest cordite factory during the First World War. The government-owned facility was adjacent to the Solway Firth, near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway. It was built by the Ministry of Munitions in response to the Shell Crisis of 1915. The capital cost was £9,184,000 and it covered 9,000 acres (36 km2). The cost of working it from September 1916 to September 1918 was £12,769,000, during which time it produced cordite valued at £15,000,000, though it was claimed that without it the cordite would have had to be imported from the US at a cost of £23,600,000.