Scotland!
“...As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run...”
Knock, Knock
We were just sitting down to Saturday morning tea (Jun 17) when there was an unexpected knock on our door. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by the two cleaning ladies we had met the week before. They said we were scheduled for check-out today. I checked our reservation on Vrbo, and there it was in black and white—check-out June 17.
Other than way back on November 27, 2022, in Edinburgh when I had us pack up all our stuff and schlepp everything down the road to the apartment we weren't due to check into for one more day—this was the very first time our reservations were off. Not a bad record really!
It took us a while, but we packed up the apartment as quickly as we could and said a hurried thank you and goodbye to one our favorite places.
Despite being a favorite, the apartment lacked one key appliance: a washing machine. We had intended to use Saturday as laundry day, so we decided to stick to the plan. We parked the car, walked to Ambleside Launderette, and then popped around the corner to Mr H Tearoom so we could search for a place to stay.
Among other options, I emailed our hotel for Sunday night (when I called the message said I could only leave a voicemail on the weekends!). They may not answer their phones, but thankfully they read their emails. The hotel called and offered us a room.
So, clean laundry in hand, we were off to Scotland one day earlier than we thought we would be.
On M6.
Gretna Green
Long before Amanda developed any real awareness of England or Scotland, there was one city she knew by name—Gretna Green.
In 1754, "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage," popularly known as “Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act,” was enacted in England.
This law required young people to be over 21 years of age if they wished to marry without their parents’ or guardian’s consent. The marriage was required to be a public ceremony in the couple’s parish, with an official of the Church presiding. The new law was rigorously enforced and carried a sentence of 14 years transportation for any clergyman found breaking it.
As The Marriage Act did not extend to Scotland, however, its major unforeseen effect was to send the marriage trade north of the border. In Scotland it was still sufficient to simply make a declaration in front of two witnesses. A number of locations just over the border on the main roads from London became well known for conducting speedy marriages that circumvented the new English Law.
We thought it would be fun to spend a night at Greta Hall Hotel, as it is possibly the oldest hotel to spring up for the purpose of facilitating quick marriage ceremonies (well, two nights as it turned out).
The Beginning of a Legend
Greta Green is less than a mile from the border with England, and on the main road between London and Edinburgh.
And so, through a combination of geography, history, and an unstoppable romantic streak amongst the young people of England, the legend of Gretna Green began in 1754.
This could lead to epic chases, with furious parents pursuing rebellious children across the English countryside in a bid to stop them reaching Greta Green. The public and the press were captivated, and newspaper journalists were sometimes posted to the village just to sniff out the best stories. The reputation of Greta Green grew and grew with every exciting, romance-fuelled episode.
If, like Amanda, you spent your teens digesting romance novels like they were PEZ candies, then you read countless stories where couples eloped in Gretna Green.
Gretna Green remains one of the most popular places for weddings and thousands of couples from all around the world flock to this Scottish village to be married each year.
We arrived at the hotel on a Saturday, so as we pulled into the parking lot, a wedding party was busy taking pictures in the garden (above).
At the same time, this bride was being escorted to her wedding ceremony presumably by her son. At least two other ceremonies took place later that afternoon.
Anvil Priests
In Scottish law, a clergyman was not required for a marriage to be legal. Anyone could perform the ceremony so long as there were two witnesses.
A blacksmith’s shop situated on an important crossroads, was one of the first buildings couples came across in Scotland. After a few impromptu marriages, the enterprising blacksmith in Greta Green soon spotted a money-making opportunity, offering wedding services to couples who had run over the border to marry.
The Blacksmith’s Forge at Gretna Green became a favorite place for weddings.
The tradition of the blacksmith sealing the marriage by striking his anvil led to the Gretna blacksmiths becoming known as “anvil priests.” Indeed the blacksmith and his anvil are now symbols of Gretna Green weddings.
Gretna Green’s famous Blacksmiths Shop, the Old Smithy, where lovers have come to marry since 1754, is still in the village and still a wedding venue. Amanda is standing by the original anvil.
There are now several wedding venues in Gretna Green, but marriage ceremonies are always performed over a blacksmith’s anvil. Here’s a video from inside the blacksmith’s shop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEl85DyzB_o
We stayed two nights at Gretna Hall, a former manor house and coaching inn, that was leased by the anvil priest John Linton in 1825. He successfully advertised it for men and women of gentility and social prominence, and it soon became the favoured spot for aristocratic weddings.
Handfasting has been part of wedding history in the UK since medieval times and is a symbolic way for people to commit to each other. Their hands would be bound together with rope, ribbon, or cord—so beginning the phrase “tying the knot.”
The Scottish Thistle is the oldest recorded “National Flower” and is probably one of the most well-known, and easily recognized symbols of Scotland.
Engraved “love” padlocks on a LOVE monument.
Hadrian’s Wall
In addition to exploring Gretna Green’s romantic history, we also used the city as a base to visit Hadrian’s Wall.
Roman conquest of Britain is a long and confusing tale, but the conquest began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudiua, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by AD 87.
Under Emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117–138), Roman occupation of present day Scotland was withdrawn to a defendable frontier by the construction of Hadrian’s Wall beginning around AD 122.
The wall became the northernmost part of the Roman Empire until Emperor Constantine III, withdrew virtually the whole of the Roman army from Britain around AD 409.
When the Romans left, the Anglo Saxons settled in Britain and ruled until the Vikings from Scandanavia made their way across the sea to invade and settle in Britain in AD 793.
Housesteads Roman Fort
Housesteads is one of 16 permanent bases along Hadrian's Wall. Nearly 2,000 years ago, 800 soldiers were living and working at Housesteads. There was a large barracks block, hospital, commander's house, granaries, and a communal toilet.
Hadrian’s Wall at Housesteads.
Looking east.
This is the largely intact communal toilet for the soldiers.
The most disturbing part of this image are the lollipoops.
Here a quick video overlooking Housesteads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzs652S66Bw
Vindolanda Roman Museum and Archaeological Site
The vast Vindolanda archaeological site is just down the road from Housesteads.
At Vindolanda, a Roman street lined with barracks on either side.
The small table-looking object marks where the remains of a 9-11 year old child was discovered in an unmarked grave dug through the corner of this barrack room. The child was buried after cAD 213. Because it was illegal to do so, the burial was likely done to cover a criminal act.
The original Roman road leading through the west gate and into the fort.
How the west gate would have looked during the height of Roman occupation.
A tavern located just outside the west gate. The tavern was highlighted by English historian Alice Loxton @history_alice on Instagram.
The Sycamore Gap Tree
Our third and final stop along Hadrian’s Wall was to visit the famous Sycamore Gap Tree.
Walking along the England side of Hadrian’s Wall.
Looking down on Milecastle 39. In the absence of a major fort, the Romans built small forts (mile castles) approximately every mile along the 84-mile-long wall.
The Sycamore Gap Tree is a sycamore tree standing next to Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England.
It is located in a dramatic dip in the landscape and is a popular photographic subject, described as one of the most photographed trees in the country.
It is sometimes called the Robin Hood Tree after its staring role in the 1991 Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Rickman film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Magnificent and majestic!
Dumfries, Scotland
On Monday morning (Jun 19), we left Gretna Green headed for Glasgow. We made stops along the way in Dumfries and Alloway.
Dumfries is the birthplace of Peter Pan and the final resting place of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns.
But before we get to those two, here’s one for all you Lord of the Rings fans, we ran across the restaurant in Dumfries. For elevenses, Winnie-the-Pooh preferred honey on bread with condensed milk. Paddington Bear often took elevenses at the antique shop on Portobello Road run by his friend Mr Gruber, for which Paddington would buy buns and Mr Gruber would make hot chocolate.
In The Lord of the Rings, a party is implied to be particularly lavish in that food was served "continuously from elevenses until six-thirty."
J. M. Barrie
James Matthew Barrie is best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. From the ages of 13-18, Barrie played wild and adventurous pirate games with his friends in the “enchanted land” surrounding the grand Georgian house at Moat Brae in Dumfries.
He described his teenage years in Dumfries as the “happiest of his life” and he credited the garden at Moat Brae as the inspiration for Peter Pan and Neverland.
Robert Burns
Burns become Scotland’s favorite son and national bard—an extraordinary poet, egalitarian, and international icon. His works are a cornerstone of Scottish literary heritage.
The poet and songwriter spent the final four years of his life and was buried here in Dumfries.
A disrespectful seagull stands on the Robert Burns Statue in front of Greyfriars Church in the middle of Dumfries.
In May 1793, the Burns family moved into this red sandstone cottage on Mill Street, now called Burns Street. It was in this very same house that Robert would die four years later in July 1796.
By the standard of the time, it was a good-sized family home, with a kitchen and parlor downstairs, two bedrooms on the second floor, and a full-length attic where the six children roomed.
This is Robert and Jean’s room. Robert had a small study through the door in the back.
The small study off the bedroom.
Burns etched his name in the window glass in the small study.
The small door next to Robert and Jean’s room, leads up into the attic where the children slept.
The smaller second bedroom, possibly where their eldest bairn Bobbie slept. (Amanda is holding the toaster we bought for £3.50 at a charity shop. It’s cheaper to have crumpets for breakfast in a hotel than to eat out.)
On July 18, 1796, quite ill, Burns passed the threshold of this house, and climbed for the last time the white-edged stair into, most likely, this room. It was here that he died several days later when he was only 36 years old.
On our short walk to the kirkyard where Robert was buried, we passed this statue in honor of his wife Jean (Armour was her maiden name).
Burns was interred in the nearby kirkyard of St Michael's and South Parish Church.
It was widely felt that Burns original grave, marked with a plain stone slab was an insufficient memorial to the poet. When Dorothy and William Wordsworth visited Dumfries in 1803 they had difficulty in even finding the grave.
In 1815, Burns' body was exhumed and placed in this new mausoleum.
Some thirty-eight years later, Jean was carried from the same red sandstone cottage they lived into together, and laid to rest beside her husband.
Alloway, Scotland
Now we travel back in time and about 60 miles to the northwest. It was here on January 25, 1759, that Robert Burns was born in a small cottage in Alloway.
Born the son of a farmer, Burns received little regular schooling and was educated mostly by his father and a teacher, John Murdoch. As a youth he started to write poetry while working as a laborer on his father's farm.
There are number of historic places to visit in Alloway, several of which are connected by the Poet’s Path, which displays icons from Burns’ poems and songs.
One of his more famous writings is the narrative poem Tam O’Shanter (1791). In the poem Tam is riding his horse Meg home after a late night drinking in the pub, when he sees witches and warlocks dancing and the Devil playing the bagpipes.
Still drunk he notices one particularly wanton witch in a short dress; he loses his reason and shouts, “Weel done, cutty-sark!” ("cutty-sark" meaning short shirt). Immediately, the lights go out, the music and dancing stops, and many of the creatures lunge after Tam, with the witches leading.
Tam spurs Meg to turn and flee and drives the horse on towards the River Doon, as the creatures dare not cross a running stream. The creatures give chase and the witches come so close to catching Tam and Meg that they pull Meg's tail off just as she reaches the Brig o’ Doon (bridge over the River Doon).
Burns Cottage
In the garden, a large reed statue of Meg and Tam from the Tam O’Shanter poem.
The small farmhouse where Robert was born.
Half of the home was a stable.
The other half of the house must have smelled like a stable.
This tiny bed is where his parents slept and where the children were born. The small loft above is where the young children slept—a crazy small living space!
The kitchen in the one-room living space.
In the garden, a reed statue of Burns.
Alloway Auld Kirk
Alloway Auld Kirk (old church) dates from at least the 1200s, but the present structure was probably built in the 1500s.
The kirk was a ruin by the time Robert Burns lived here as a child and it was the setting for many spine-chilling local legends. Such tales inspired his famous poem Tam o' Shanter.
“When, glimmering thro’ the groaning trees,
Kirk-Alloway seem’d in a bleeze;
Thro’ ilka bore the beams were glancing;
And loud resounded mirth and dancing.”
William Burns, Robert's father, is buried in the kirkyard, together with his daughter Isabella as well as two of his nieces.
Robert inscribed an epitaph on the back of his father’s headstone; I find the last three lines particularly poignant.
“O ye, whose cheek the tears of pity stains,
Draw near with pious reverence and attend.
Here lie the loving husband’s dear remains,
The tender father, and the generous friend;
The pitying heart that felt for human wo!
The dauntless heart that fear’d no human pride
The friend of man, to vice alone a foe.
For ev’n his failings lean’d to virtue’s side.”
The Brig o’ Doon House hotel where we had originally planned to stay. Instead, we opted for a visit to the city only and then carried on to Glasgow. The Brig o’ Doon in the background.
The Burns monument inside the Burns Memorial Gardens, behind the hotel.
The Brig o' Doon (bridge over the River Doon) dates from the 1400s and was the main crossing point over the river when Robert Burns was a child. His father William crossed the brig every day on his way to and from work at nearby Doonside Estate.
Cool memorial built into the bridge.
Many years later, Robert returned to the landscape of his youth and found inspiration here for two of his best-loved works: The Banks o' Doon and Tam o' Shanter. The brig has been saved twice from demolition thanks to its connections with the poet.
Brig o’ Doon as seen from the Burns Memorial Gardens.
On a related note, Brigadoon was a 1954 musical film where two Americans on a hunting trip in Scotland happen upon Brigadoon, a miraculously blessed village that rises out of the mists every hundred years for only a day.
Brig o’ Doon in the distance from on top of the Burns Monument.
In the Burns Memorial Garden.
This stone was brought to the garden when the 1788 “New Brig” of Robert Burns' poem “The Twa Brigs” was demolished.
It had suffered flood damage in 1877. The bridge had featured four plaques such as this one, each bearing the Burgh's coat of arms: Ayr Castle.
Beautiful wild flowers.
