Quick - where's the blacksmith?

As a follow up to yesterday's post, the Marriage Act of 1753 stated, among other things, that if you wished to get married under the age of majority - which was then 21 - you needed the consent of your parents. The law did not apply however in Scotland, where boys could marry at 14 and girls at 12. Further in Scotland all that was needed for a valid marriage was the exchange of vows before a person of some standing (not necessarily a minister) in the presence of two witnesses. This led to an exodus of under-age couples wishing to marry to Scotland, and as the first place the stage-coach would stop over the border was Gretna, this quickly became the Las Vegas of its day. Subsequent legislation made marriage there progressively more difficult but Gretna retains its mystique as a place of romantic love to this day.