GRETNA GREEN, village and parish, southeast Dum friesshire, Scotland, about 8 m. E. of Annan, 9 m. N.N.W. of Carlisle, and a m. from the river Sark, here the dividing-line between England and Scotland, with a station on the L.M.S.R. The L.N.E.R. has a station at Gretna on the English side of the Border. Up till 1754, when Lord Hardwicke's act abolishing clan destine marriages came into force, the ceremony had commonly been performed in the Fleet prison in London. After that date runaway couples were compelled to seek the hospitality of Scot land where it sufficed for them to declare their wish to marry in the presence of witnesses. At Gretna Green, the Scottish border village, the ceremony was usually performed by the blacksmith, but the tollkeeper, ferryman or in fact any person might officiate, and the toll-house, the inn, or, after 1826, Gretna hall was the scene of many such weddings. As many as 200 couples were married at the toll-house in a year. The traffic was practically ended in 1856, when the law required one of the contracting parties to reside in Scotland three weeks previous to the event.
During the World War a temporary manufacturing town ship for the provision of cordite was created on a tract of land some To m. long and from 1 to 2 m. wide, with Gretna Green in its centre. The buildings fell largely into two groups, one at Dor noch to the W., and one, about 7 m. E., at Mossband and Long town. The whole undertaking cost over f9,000,000, and employed at one time 24,70o persons. It was sold in 1924, although Labour members of Parliament made efforts to secure its use as a national peace-time factory. Pop. of Gretna civil parish (1931)