Gretna Green: Guide, Hotels, Map & Photos
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GBP 45 - 189 The Gables Hotel
 The Grade II listed Gables Hotel is situated in the heart of Gretna. The Gables has beautiful gardens, free Wi-Fi and offers en suite rooms with flat-… MoreGBP 50 - 185 Smiths At Gretna Green Hotel
 All bedrooms have king or super king-sized beds, contemporary fireplaces, broadband and a great deal more.
Located right next to the world famous Old… MoreGBP 20 - 100 Gretna Hall Hotel
 A 2-minute walk from Gretna Green Rail Station, Gretna Hall offers both traditional and modern en suite rooms and free parking. The English border is … MoreGBP 31 - 86 Days Inn Hotel Gretna Green
 Days Inn Gretna Green is close to the M74 and M6 motorways, and within easy reach of Carlisle. It has free Wi-Fi and free parking.
Newcastle-upon-Tyn… More | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gretna Green: Guide
Gretna Green is a small village in the south of Scotland, distinct from the larger nearby town of Gretna, Scotland|Gretna. Both are on the A74 road near the border with England. It is on the west coast, in Dumfries and Galloway, and near the mouth of the River Esk, Dumfriesshire|River Esk. It is the site of Gretna Green railway station and the home of the association football|football team Gretna F.C.
Marriage
Its main claim to fame are the Blacksmith's Shops, where many runaway marriages were performed. These began in 1753 when an Act of Parliament, Marriage Act, 1753|Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act, was passed in England, which stated that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, then consent to the marriage had to be given by the parents. This Act did not apply in Scotland where it was possible for boys to get married at 14 and girls at 12 years old with or without parental consent. Since 1929 both parties have had to be at least 16 years old but there is still no consent needed. In England and Wales the ages are now 16 with consent and 18 without.
This led to many elopers fleeing England and making for the first Scottish village they came to — Gretna Green. The Old blacksmith's shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmiths Shop 1710 became, in popular folklore at least, the focal point for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmiths opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887.
The local blacksmith and his anvil have become the lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Scottish law allowed for 'irregular marriages', meaning that, so long as a declaration was made, in front of two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony. The local blacksmiths in Gretna became known as 'anvil priests'. As a "forger", the blacksmith marries hot metal to metal over the anvil, in the same way the anvil priests forged a union between couples who had eloped in love.
Gretna's two Blacksmiths shops and countless Inns and smallholding became the backdrops for hundreds of thousands of weddings. Today, Gretna Green remains one of the most popular wedding venues in the world, and thousands of couples still come from all over the world to be married 'over the anvil' at Gretna Green.
See also
Ower Bogie
This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Gretna Green". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.