Gretna Green is located on the old coaching route between London and Edinburgh (today it lays on either side the A74 motorway). Gretna became famous because of its location, being the first village reached upon entering Scotland, and through a mishap of history.
The Marriage Act of 1754
Gretna’s reputation as the home of runaway marriages was the result of England’s Marriage Act in 1754.
There was concern over the large number of irregular marriages taking place, so Lord Hardwick introduced an Act of Parliament in 1754, placing numerous restrictions on marriage. As a result, the banns (public announcement) had to be read out in advance of the wedding date, witnesses were required, only a clergyman could officiate in a parish church building, and the couple had to be over the age of 21, unless consent was given by the parents or guardians.
Enforcement was surprisingly strict, if a clergyman broke the new laws he could face 14 years of transportation.
Scottish law, however, was an entirely different matter. None of these restrictions were enforced, sixteen being the legal age to marry and parental consent not required.
Inevitably under-age English couples, thwarted in love, started eloping over the border to Gretna Green, often with a furious father in hot pursuit. The journey by coach along the Great North Road from London was long and expensive, requiring several days even when taken in speed for fear of capture. With luck the young couple married in time, but sometimes the parents won the race and their daughters were dragged home in both tears and disgrace.
The name Gretna Green was feared in many wealthy homes, especially those with young romantically-minded heiresses. A parent’s worst nightmare was that their daughter would run off with a fortune hunter, rake, ‘half-pay officer’, or even the dancing master they encountered at school.
Famous Gretna Elopement
On at least one occasion, in a surprising role reversal, a parent was chased to Gretna by his children. Thirteen years after his first wife had passed away, Lord Erskine, the Lord Chancellor of England, fell in love with his young housekeeper, Sarah Buck. When it was discovered Sarah was pregnant, Lord Erskine announced his intention to his adult children that he planned to marry Sarah in order to legitimize the baby. Fearing the loss of their inheritance, his children tried to have him committed to a lunatic asylum to prevent the marriage.
Lord Erskine, at 66 years of age managed to outsmart his children by disguising himself as a woman, while he and Sarah fled north for Scotland with his sons on his tail. Having successfully outrun his sons, the couple was married in 1818, but the scandal ruined Lord Erskine.
The ‘Priests’ of Gretna
In popular folklore, young couples were married by the local blacksmith over his anvil; the striking of the anvil was seen as symbolizing the joining of the couple together in the heat of the moment, like two pieces of metal, binding them together forever. In reality, the blacksmith’s shop in Gretna Green was located in the center of the village at the intersection of five coaching roads, so not only was the blacksmith easily found but no doubt was used to being awoken at all hours for shoeing horses.
Most outsiders thought that the ceremonies were carried out by regular clergyman in the village, but these marriages were in fact performed by ‘anvil priests’, in the inns of Gretna Green. As Scottish law only required two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct a marriage ceremony. Therefore, priests came from a variety of backgrounds, motivated by making quick and easy money.
For example, as soon as the Marriage Act was passed, Joseph Paisley took advantage of the new commercial opportunities becoming one of Gretna’s most notorious ‘priests’. He made an annual income of 945 pounds (a fortune) by marrying on average sixty couples per year, and competition was stiff.
Despite Gretna’s convenience for runaway couples from England, the parish ministers and many locals were outraged by the existence of these ‘priests’, but it would be some years before they were banished.
Amendment to the Marriage Act in 1857
Gretna’s railway station opened in the mid-nineteenth century, making it easier and more affordable for couples to elope, resulting in a huge increase in the number of irregular marriages which offended Victorian sensibilities. There was a public outcry and Gretna’s minister demanded these types of weddings be outlawed.
As a result, an 1857 amendment to the Marriage Act in 1857 introduced by Lord Brougham (who himself had eloped to Gretna!), required one of the couple to have resided in Scotland for at least three weeks prior to the wedding ,or the marriage would not be recognized in England.
While this put a damper on things, couples continued to elope to Gretna until 1940, when irregular marriages performed by anyone other than an official registrar or clergyman were outlawed.
Today, couples can get married outside church premises either by registrar or clergyman and once again business is booming in Gretna, making it not only a popular tourist attraction but one of the most popular wedding venues in the world.
Sources:
- Gretna Weddings
- Jennifer Kloester. Georgette Heyer’s Regency World
- Venetia Murray. An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England
- Undiscovered Scotland Online
- Rhona Wilson. Old Gretna
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