Gretna, Dumfries & Galloway - Old Toll Bar - RP postcard c.1910s

• • Postcard

     

  • Picture / Image:  Old Toll Bar, Gretna [Dumfries & Galloway]
  • Publisher: Valentines
  • Postally used: no
  • Stamp:  n/a
  • Postmark(s): n/a
  • Sent to:  n/a
  • Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Gretna (Scottish Gaelic: Greatna) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire.[2] It's located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England + near the mouth of the River Esk.[3]

Dumfries is 31 miles (50 km) west, Annan is 8 miles (13 km) west, Carlisle is 10 miles (16 km) south east, Glasgow is 87.9 miles (141 km) north west + Edinburgh is 89.5 miles (144 km) north east.

Nearby Gretna Green, is traditionally associated with eloping English couples because of the more liberal marriage provisions in Scots law compared to English law. Because of this, "Gretna" has become a term for a place for quick, easy marriages.[4]

History

Etymology

Gretna means "(place at the) gravelly hill", from Old English greot "grit" (in the dative form greoten (which is where the -n comes from) and hoh "hill-spur".

The Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly 1 mile (2 km) west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney. It was one of the traditionally recognised meeting places on the England / Scotland border.

17th century

Prior to the Acts of Union 1707 of the Parliaments of England and Scotland, Gretna was a customs post for collecting taxes on cattle crossing the border between the two kingdoms. The Gretna customs post was established in 1612.[5] A Drove road was constructed between Gretna and Annan in 1619, possibly to facilitate the transportation of cattle from Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire to markets in England.[6]

18th century

Gretna's principal claim to fame arose in 1753 when an Act of Parliament, Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act, was passed in England, which provided, among other things, that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, consent to the marriage had to be given by the parents. This Act did not apply in Scotland, which allowed boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12, with or without parental consent. In addition, the Act required procedures that gave notice of an impending marriage to the community. As a result, many elopers fled England, and the first Scottish village they reached was often Gretna.

World War I

HM Factory, Gretna, codenamed Moorside, was a cordite munitions factory built nearby on the shore of Solway Firth to supply ammunition to British forces during World War I.