Gretna Green

Gretna Green is a village in Southern Scotland on the border with England. It is 35 km east-southeast of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway close to the mouth of the Esk on the old stagecoach route from London to Edinburgh Gretna Green was the first village in Scotland. Today, it is very close to the motorway A 74 (M).

Weddings

Gretna Green is one of the best known and most popular wedding locations in the world; about 5,000 weddings each year there closed. The place was more than 200 years visited by underage couples from England, but soon also from parts of the rest of Europe to the wedding because they could without parental consent marry here.

For a long time were in the UK no fixed rules for closing a marriage. In 1753, the British Parliament passed the Lord Hardwicke 's Marriage Act, which called for the consent of the parents, among others for a marriage between minors. This law applied only to England but not in Scotland. There were still close to 12 years, a marriage without parental consent boys 14 and girls.

This control word spread very fast: Many underage couples fled from England and the first village behind the Scottish border was Gretna Green. The Scottish law required at the time on a marriage by a statement in the presence of two witnesses, so almost everyone was authorized to conduct a marriage ceremony. In Gretna Green, the blacksmith had established itself as the official age for marriage. The weddings were held in his forge, and anvil got the local ceremonies of particular importance.

Over more than 200 years minors were married here. It always came back to dramatic scenes, as fathers her child followed along the way and tried to stop the wedding at the last minute.

As of 1856 demanded the Scottish law that married couples must have at least 21 days sojourned in Scotland before the marriage. This regulation was repealed in 1977. In 1929, the minimum age for marriage was raised to 16 years, being still does not require parental consent.

Gretna Green today

The Forge, built around 1712, became the center of this marriage trade. It was converted into a public tourist attraction in the year 1887. Today, every day, hundreds of tourists from home and abroad to Gretna Green in the forge, which has long since been converted into a museum. There is an exhibition and three maid rooms, all of which are provided with an anvil. There are also sites find extensive souvenir shops and a self-service restaurant. Among the few other houses Gretna Greens also includes a hotel.

Others

In her novel, Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen Gretna Green mentioned as a possible target of the volatile minor Lydia Bennet Wickham with the officer.

In the German feature film Seven slaps of 1937 Willy Fritsch and Lilian Harvey married couple as a film in Gretna Green.

The final scene of the film " Baldwin, the holiday horror ' from 1967 with Louis de Funes also plays in Gretna Green.

Published in 1997 Joana as a farewell to a failed relationship with the song And you would I times to Gretna Green.

Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in 1967 married his first wife in Gretna Green.