Famous Blacksmith's Shop

Dumfries & Galloway


At the centre of the village of Gretna Green, the touristy Famous Blacksmith’s Shop complex has a number of mediocre shops and eateries, a maze, and a quite entertaining multilingual exhibition on Gretna Green’s history, with tales of intrigues, elopements, scoundrels and angry parents arriving minutes too late. There’s a recreation of a blacksmith’s forge, a collection of handsome carriages and a few marriage rooms: you may well run into a modern-day wedding as you walk through.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Dumfries & Galloway attractions

1. Cumbria's Museum of Military Life

8.91 MILES

Contained inside the walls of Carlisle Castle, this new museum explores the county's proud military history, with weapons, medals, standards, uniforms and…

2. Carlisle Castle

8.91 MILES

Carlisle's brooding, rust-red castle lurks on the north side of the city. Founded around a Celtic and Roman stronghold, the castle's Norman keep was added…

3. Tullie House Museum

9.01 MILES

Carlisle's flagship museum covers 2000 years of the city's past. The Roman Frontier Gallery explores Carlisle's Roman foundations, while the Border…

4. Carlisle Cathedral

9.11 MILES

Built from the same red sandstone as Carlisle Castle, Carlisle's cathedral began life as a priory church in 1122 and became a cathedral when its first…

5. MacDiarmid Memorial

11.44 MILES

Amid stirring scenery a couple of miles from town on the Newcastleton road, this oxidised iron memorial to poet Hugh MacDiarmid looks like a portal to a…

6. Ruthwell Cross

13.71 MILES

Seven miles east of Caerlaverock Castle, in tiny Ruthwell, a church holds one of Europe’s most important early Christian monuments. The 6m-high 7th…

7. Lanercost Priory

14.87 MILES

Situated 2.6 miles northeast of Brampton in Cumbria, these peaceful raspberry-coloured ruins are all that remain of a priory founded in 1166 by…

8. Caerlaverock Wetland Centre

16.87 MILES

This protects 546 hectares of salt marsh and mudflats, the habitat for numerous birds, including barnacle geese. There are various activities, including…