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A guide in a tartan sash tells a group the story of the anvil in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
Dumfries and Galloway

Gretna Green Guided Tour

Half an hour with a guide through the Maze, the sculptures and the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, where runaway couples once married over the anvil.

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Welcome

There's no better way to get under the skin of Scotland's most famous wedding village than with someone who knows its stories.

Gretna Green 's guided tour begins with a welcome to the sound of Scottish music, then winds through the Maze, with views out to the Langholm Hills, and past the sculptures, each with a love story of its own. It ends in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum, among a collection gathered over five generations and the anvil where couples who had run away from England were married. It takes about half an hour, under-12s go free, and you can buy tickets on the day at the museum.

Before you go
How long
Half an hour
Cost
£8.75 a person, under-12s free, booked online with a small fee
Where
The Maze, the sculptures and the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
What you see
The Maze, the sculptures and the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
Book
Online at gretnagreen.com, or call 01461 336 001.
Getting here
Free parking on site, just off the M74 (locked 6pm to 8am); Gretna Green station is a short walk.
Dogs
Welcome across most of the site, though not in the restaurants or the Larder shop.

Did you know

Visitors follow the guide through the museum's exhibition, lit by a ribbon of light along the wall.
Did you know

How many couples did Richard Rennison, the last anvil priest, marry at Gretna Green between 1926 and 1940?

5,147, in just fourteen years at Gretna Green in Dumfries and Galloway, more than any anvil priest before him. Couples came over the border because Scots law let them marry by declaration in front of witnesses, without a parent's consent. That kind of marriage ended in July 1940, and Rennison was the last to perform them. Weddings still happen over the anvil today, as full civil or religious ceremonies, and the guided tour of the Famous Blacksmiths Shop tells how it all began.

A couple make a heart with their hands for a photograph outside the Shops at the Green.
Did you know

Gretna Green's Famous Blacksmiths Shop stands at Headless Cross, where five old coaching roads met.

The smithy was built around 1713 at the crossroads in Gretna Green, just over the border in Dumfries and Galloway, and its spot was everything. Coaches coming north from England passed its door, so it became the place where runaway couples stopped to marry. In 1886 Hugh Mackie opened it to visitors, which by Gretna Green's account makes it one of the first places in Britain you could pay to look round. His family still runs it today, with the museum, the anvil and the coaches inside.

An old yellow-wheeled carriage in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.
Did you know

In 1818 a former Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, Lord Erskine, rode to Gretna Green dressed as a woman to marry his housekeeper.

Thomas Erskine, once the most senior judge in the land, was in his late sixties when he set off north with Sarah Buck, his housekeeper. To slip past anyone who might stop them, he travelled in women's clothes. His son raced after them and arrived at Gretna Green, the first village over the Scottish border in Dumfries and Galloway, too late: the couple were married on 12 October 1818. The story is told in the Famous Blacksmiths Shop, where old coaches still stand.

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Where it is

At Gretna Green, just over the border on the A74(M): the Maze, the sculptures and the Famous Blacksmiths Shop museum.

Close by
  1. Gretna GreenGretna GreenThe first village over the border, where runaway couples married at an anvil.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Handfasting at Gretna GreenHandfasting at Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  3. The First Sip of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Sip of Scotland, Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  4. The First Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenThe First Taste of Scotland, Gretna GreenUnder a mile as the crow flies
  5. The Couples Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeThe Couples Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeA private 90 minutes at Gretna Green's working forge, where a couple make an entwined-hearts keepsake alongside the resident blacksmith.Under a mile as the crow flies
  6. The Smithy Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeThe Smithy Experience at the Gretna Green ForgeAn hour at your own anvil in Gretna Green's forge, learning the basics of blacksmithing and making a fireside poker to take home.Under a mile as the crow flies
Directions
The blacksmith works the big iron coin press at the Gretna Green Forge while a visitor in a striped jumper looks on.ActivityThe Forge Experience at Gretna GreenA step away
White cottage buildings with sign for Gretna Green Famous Blacksmiths ShopAttractionsGretna Green Old Blacksmiths ShopA step away
Wooden sculpture of two clasped hands rising against a pale skyAttractionsThe Big Dance (the Clasping Hands), Gretna GreenA step away
White building with sign for The Devil's Porridge Museum behind a stone wallAttractionsThe Devil's Porridge Museum4.8 miles
Wooden washbacks line a distillery hall with exposed brick walls and timber roof beamsAttractionsAnnandale Distillery8.9 miles
Grassy shoreline overlooking mudflats and distant hills across the firthAttractionsThe Annan Shore Walk8.9 miles
Spending A Day In Scotland’s Debatable LandsAttractionsGilnockie Tower9.7 miles
Cottage room with black cast-iron range, tartan mantel and spinning wheel beside the windowAttractionsThomas Carlyle's Birthplace9.9 miles
The Daily for 18 October, from Scotland with love. Golden-hour light catches a shadowed mountain above a loch, rust-coloured moorland in the foreground

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