Wall Of Love

Love can take many forms. Some people like to declare their affection with bunches of flowers, others with romantic lines of poetry. Some go as far as a tattoo in an untold place...Baz loves Shaz! At Gretna Green, the traditional runaway's place to elope, you can declare your affections on their Wall of Love.

In the Springtime sunshine, we noticed the glint of a billion padlocks, each emblazoned with names, each declaring more love than the last, all attached to the metal letters standing proud. L O V E.

In 2025, Gretna Green celebrated its 130th year since Hugh Mackie bought the Gretna Estate and opened his Blacksmith's shop. With less restrictive marriage laws, young couples would skip over the border to Scotland to get hitched.

Love is big business nowadays, and we've become flashy and demonstrative in our declarations of affection. And here, what better way to declare your love's locked in than on Gretna Green's Wall of Love?

If your padlock's locked and you've thrown away the key...surely you must live happily ever after, right?

We wiped away a tear for Fatma, who must have lost her key but found a Sharpie to divorce her beau!

The Wall of Love is big! At 6ft by 20ft it's a great big gabion, wire mesh wall, filled with rocks to keep the emotions anchored. The artwork was commissioned by the Gretna Estate and made by blacksmith Kev Paxton of ArtFe, based in Edinburgh.

Of his work, he states:

Love and marriage is filled with tradition and emblematic statements. The Romans believed that wedding rings were to be worn on the fourth finger of the left hand because a vein ran all the way from there to the heart. Other traditions stated that if you tucked a sugar cube inside your wedding gloves, it kept your love sweet.

Padlocks are a more recent symbol of affirming your undying love for someone (except for Fatma). The declaration of publicly announcing your love for someone and throwing away the key is seen as a symbol of commitment. Padlocks are seen as an unbreakable bond of connection, and throwing away the key means it cannot be undone.

Newly betrothed couples often had their hands bound together as a symbol of commitment. This is known as tying the knot!

This modern analogy of a padlock is seen as a sign of devotion and of a bond so strong that it cannot be undone. Padlocks have become a popular sign of public affection on bridges in many European cities since the 2000's.

Our family had a little bet on to guess the cost of a Gretna Green padlock. £2.50? £4.00? Maybe £5.00 with engraving?

The locks were on sale via mail order or available in the gift shop at £20.00 a pop. I have to think twice about giving anyone my last Rolo, so I'm sorry to say, a padlock's out of the question. Still, if you're young and besotted, the Wall Of Love at Gretna might be just the place to publicly declare your undying love, and permanent markers are available if you change your mind!