Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

Trip To Gretna Green

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

TRIP TO GRETNA GREEN (J8x32) 3C (4C set)

1- 8 1s cross RH, cast 1 place, 2s+1s+3s advance and retire
9-16 1s cross LH and 1L casts up to end between 2s while 1M casts down to end between 3s and 2s+1s+3s advance and retire
17-24 1s dance reels of 3 across (RSh to person on right) and end facing 1st corners
25-32 1s turn 1st corners RH, passing RSh turn 2nd corner RH and pass RSh to 2nd places own sides

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)


Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams


Dance Instruction Videos

Trip To Gretna Green - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction Video

Dance Information

Deviser unknown. Collected by Betty Lee Barnes c. 1988.

Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh.

Gretna Green is one of the world's most popular wedding destinations, hosting over 5,000 weddings each year in the Gretna Green area, and one of every six Scottish weddings.

It has usually been assumed that Gretna's famous "runaway marriages" began in 1754 when Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act came into force in England. Under the Act, if a parent of a minor (i.e., a person under the age of 21) objected, they could prevent the marriage going ahead. The Act tightened up the requirements for marrying in England and Wales but did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to marry at 14 and girls at 12 with or without parental consent. It was, however, only in the 1770s, with the construction of a toll road passing through the hitherto obscure village of Graitney, that Gretna Green became the first easily reachable village over the Scottish border.

Gretna Green
Gretna Green


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Text from this original Gretna Green article on Wikipedia.
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