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 Margaret Weste papers. In 1989 she was awarded a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to science, particularly in the field of botany. Gretna Margaret Weste Gretna Margaret Weste (September 5, 1917 – 2006) was a leading scientist noted for her work in plant pathology and mycology, specifically with "Phytophthora cinnamomi." Gretna Margaret Weste was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland in 1917, to Australian parents, arriving in Australia aged two years. Her schooling was completed through scholarships, at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne and later the University of Melbourne, attaining a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in 1938 and Master of Science