Gretna Green the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as "anvil priests", culminating with Richard Rennison, who performed 5,147 ceremonies. The local blacksmith and his anvil became lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Two in particular, The Old Blacksmith's Shop, built around 1712, and Gretna Hall Blacksmith's Shop (1710) became, in popular folklore at least, the focal tourist points for the marriage trade. The Old Blacksmith's Shop opened to the public as a visitor attraction as early as 1887. Victorian chronicler Robert Smith Surtees described Gretna Green at length in his 1848 "New Monthly Magazine" serial, "The Richest Commoner in
Gretna Green railway station Gretna Green railway station Gretna Green railway station serves the village of Gretna Green and the town of Gretna in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow South Western Line and is managed by Abellio ScotRail who provide all passenger train services. The station was opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway on 23 August 1848 as Gretna. The Glasgow and South Western Railway renamed the station as Gretna Green in April 1852. On 6 December 1965 the station was closed. Following closure, the station building was sold. In 1975 the site of the station became