Gretna Green’s bad year

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32637, 19 June 1971, Page 11

Gretna Green’s bad year

Runaway lovers from all parts of Western Europe nave traditionally fled to Gretna Green, just over the Scottish border with England. For by Scottish law a couple could be married there simply by declaring their intention before witnesses, on condition that one party at least had resided in Scotland for three weeks before the ceremony.

But things are not what they used to be in Gretna. In most recent years some 300 eloping couples arrived at the little building on the Green, now turned into a marriage registry, and were duly married. But last year the figure was down to 80, by far the lowest in the records; and it is unlikely to go up.

The reason is that the marriage law in England, south of the border, has been altered. Before, young lovers under the age of 21 could not marry without their parents’ consent Now the age limit has been dropped to 18. The Gretna registrar told a 8.8. C. reporter that the only couples from England he married in 1970 were in the group between the age of 16, the minimum age of marriage, and 18. And they were tar less numerous than the couples who made the long journey to Gretna from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia.

So though Gretna Green may continue, it will probably in future attract a somewhat more restricted clientele.