Gretna

Gretna is a small village or township, in Dumfries and Galloway, Southern Scotland. This article refers to the modern day village, and not the earlier settlement, which pre-dates the 17th century.

The modern Gretna was originally constructed (together with Eastriggs) during World War I, about 1915 to 1916, as accommodation for the largest munitions factory in the world, HM Factory, Gretna.

Gretna was the first of the new, 20th century, towns to be sponsored by the Government in Britain, and was very much a social experiment built on Garden City principles. The responsibility of architects Raymond Unwin and Courtney Crickmer, famous in their day, the village had its communal amenities centralised, and its houses arranged according to the status of the resident worker and family. Notably, all featured running water, inside toilets, and electricity. Drink was under Government control, and Public Houses there were operated by the Carlisle State Brewery as late as 1972.

The village was a model for the Homes Built for Heroes programme that followed the end of World War I. Today, it is now mainly home to commuters.

During World War II, an air raid on June 7, 1941, resulted in the deaths of twenty villagers, remembered in a memorial located in the centre of the village.

External links

Aerial views

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