Gretna Green
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Gretna Green is a parish in the southern council area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, close to the town of Gretna, on the Scottish side of the English-Scottish border. It is accessed from the A74
Public square and fountains in Gretna Green
Central Avenue in the 1910s
1930s photo of the village blacksmiths, "famous for its runaway marriages"
Marriage in Scotland
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Marriage in Scotland is recognised in the form of both civil and religious unions between individuals. Due to Scotland's history as a previously independent country, the laws around marriage developed
Gretna Green
…England and Wales but did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 with or without parental consent (see Marriage in Scotland). It was, however, only in the 1770s, with the construction of a toll road passing through the hitherto obscure village of Graitney, that Gretna Green…
A Scottish wedding party. In this case, both groom and best man are wearing kilts.
David Allan's painting of Highland wedding from 1780
19th-century painting of a "penny wedding", one at which the guests contributed money to pay for the cost of the ceremony and to benefit the couple
The Penny Wedding by David Wilkie, 1818