Broadside entitled 'Dreadful Explosion'

Commentary

This news report begins: 'A Full and Particular Account of that Dreadful Explosion of Gunpowder, at Stobbs Mills, on Thursday last the 17th February, 1825, at a few minutes past Eight in the morning, by which two Men and a Horse lost their lives, and several others were severely injured.' The sheet was priced at one penny and was published by Robert McMillan. The place of publication is not noted.

The gunpowder works at Stobsmills were founded in the late eighteenth century, around the same time that the village of Gorebridge began to grow up around the new bridge over the Gore Water in Midlothian. Despite the severity of the damage caused in this explosion in 1825, production continued at the the gunpowder works until 1875. Today Gorebridge exists primarily as a residential area for Edinburgh commuters.

Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them.

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