We’ll, it is if you associate love with marriage, which I hope you do! Bob and I took advantage of the house cleaner coming today to take a trip out of town. We headed for the famous blacksmith shop in Greta Green, almost right at the border of Scotland and England, but still in Scotland.
Why a blacksmith shop for an excursion? It turns out that this blacksmith shop is famous for performing weddings, especially during the time when marriages in England were restricted. The elopements to Greta Green (mostly from England but other places as well) started in 1754 with the Marriage Act, which made marriages only legally binding if performed by a minister in a church and only if both parties were 21 or older (unless they had their parent’s permission). But this Act did not apply in Scotland, so many couples fled to Scotland to marry. Since Greta Green is just over the border and the blacksmith shop was the first trades shop that they’d encounter (and any tradesman could perform a marriage in Scotland), the Greta Green blacksmith shop became (and remains) famous for performing weddings over the anvil. In fact, we saw the start of a wedding when we visited today.
In 1856, the Cooling Off Act was passed which required that one party getting married in Scotland had to prove residency in Scotland for at least 3 weeks prior to marriage. This led to a drop off in the ability for “instant” marriages, although some couples found accommodation so that they could still marry.
In 1885, the property on which the blacksmith shop lies was purchased by Hugh Mackie, along with the adjoining farm. This property has remained within the family since that time. Mr. Mackie’s grandson-in-law and his family have created the shop and the adjoining property into the experience that it is today. Basically, the museum, a couple of gift shops, a food hall, a convenience store, a restaurant, a Love wall, and a maze.
On the way back to Thornhill, we stopped off at the Annandale Distillery, which we had visited on our first trip to Scotland. At that time, we did the tour, and they were just reopening the old distillery. They couldn’t sell whisky yet, as it has to age for 3 years and 1 day to be called Scottish whisky. They are now selling 6 types of whisky, but we just stopped for a quick bite in their cute coffee shop.
Peckish Travels 