On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Litlebritdifrnt
The drive from Loch Ness home is a rather long one so we decided to stop overnight in Gretna Green. It is the last town in Scotland, or coming from England the first town in Scotland. This became significant when in 1753 the new Marriage Act prevented couples under the age of 21 from being married in England and Wales without their parents permission. This law didn’t apply in Scotland so couples would elope up to Scotland and the first town over the border was Gretna, where they would go to the Blacksmith’s shop and he would marry them according to Scotland’s laws at the time. It is now a magnet for people to get married, simply for the romance of it all.
The Hotel is located across the road from the Blacksmith so is THE location for Wedding Receptions. When we arrived and were checking in we saw at least four brides wandering around in their wedding dresses off to various rooms in the hotel where their receptions were being held. When we ate dinner that evening there was a “rehearsal dinner” (I assume) going on in the restaurant and the bride and all the bridesmaids had their hair in curlers, in the restaurant, eating dinner!
This is the original Anvil on which the “Anvil Priest” would strike his hammer to signify the marriage of the couple before him. At the visitor centre there were hundreds of stories of eloping couples, furious parents in hot pursuit, and news stories from more recent times of couples who have chosen Gretna to get married.
There is a very nice Visitor Centre here and a constant parade of couples getting married. To greet them there is a piper.
As I said, there was a constant stream of couples entering the Blacksmiths shop and exchanging vows. They would then go across the road, or to various other places, to have their reception.
Finally when we got back to the car we found this Caterpillar Darwin Award Nominee on our car tire. Yes, I did pull him off and placed him gently onto a bush, much to his disgust and his attempts to bite me. So onwards to home.
sab
That would be so much better than marriage in Las Vegas.
Or Niagara Falls.
sab
Although as an American of Scottish, English and Irish ancestry I associate bagpipes more with funerals than weddings.
NeenerNeener
I’ll never be able to read a Regency Romance novel again without imagining that hotel….
sab
@NeenerNeener: Agreed
sab
So you weren’t going to Gretna for marriage, but just because it was on the border to home.
I am sure I am misspelling your nym. LitlbritdifrntI have missed you. I hope you comment more.
sab
I am sorry. I feel like I hijacked this whole thread.
Steve in the ATL
@NeenerNeener:
Glad we’re on the same page!
Steve in the ATL
@sab: it’s fine since you didn’t post “Frist!” like an idiot
Bobby Thomson
As the descendant of a Union army blacksmith, this tickles me.
Paul in St. Augustine
Are those palm tree in the third picture?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Fun post. I knew Gretna Green was the place to go to elope, but I didn’t know why. And I sure didn’t know about the blacksmith.
HinTN
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes, the Anvil Priest is a fascinating tradition. Thank you, Litlbritdifrnt.
mvr
@sab: Actually, FWIW, Las Vegas in 2000 turned out to be a great place to get married. Show up at the office of civil marriage, trade witnessing with the next people getting married, and then go shopping for old books, have dinner, and take off the next day for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
But of course Scotland is very nice as well. Many thanks to Litlebritdifrnt for the tour!
J R in WV
My grandfather on my mom’s side was a blacksmith, become hoist engineer as machinery became more important than horse power, running a steam engine to hoist coal and miners from a mine 555 feet deep.
In southern WV where I grew up there was a town over in VA, Pearisburg, where eloping couples would go to get married, there was a required 3 day waiting period in WV during which parents could intervene. I dunno if that’s still going on.
And thanks, Litlbritdifrnt, for saving the Darwin attempting caterpillar. ;~)
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
Last, maybe? !!!
sab
@Steve in the ATL: I have done in the past.
ETA I did make a Gretna and marriage joke in her last Scotland post which was completely ignored.
sab
@mvr: I had a niece elope in Las Vegas in an interracial marriage that neither family approved of. She said the wedding was great and not stressful, and twenty years later they are still happily married and both families love both of them.
sab
@sab: Of course I am biased. I eloped in both my weddings and I wouldn’t do it any other way. Who would want to be a bridezilla, or let their future mother in law or mother have a hand in the planning?
Litlebritdifrnt
Thank you all for your lovely responses to these posts. I have enjoyed sharing my tour photos, although they look alot better on the phone than they do as larger versions. I shall have to do better using my phone camera in the future.
Dan B
@Paul in St. Augustine: Corderliness, often called Dracaena indivisa. Scotland is very mild due to the Gulf Stream.