Richard Renison returned home from a funeral only to find no less than eight anxious young

couples waiting to see him. Many had ventured the short mile over a newly constructed toll road

between England and Scotland, gunning for the tiny town of Gretna Green as their final destination.

They had all heard about him. In fact, Richard was somewhat famous, a gregarious, tall-tail

teller and yarn spinner who had been at his post for decades. He moved here to do an important

job, and a pretty infamous one at that. Richard came to Gretna Green, Scotland, in 1936, after hearing

about a very special job vacancy. A saddler by trade, he took up a post as the town's resident

Anvil Priest, a title and distinction entirely specific to this small slice of the world.

All of these young couples were here to get married, and Richard was going to be the one

to officiate.

They had traveled over the border to see him, many of them in secret, and many quickly.

This was often the nature of his work.

To many, he was a hero.

To others, he and those who came before him were a walking-talking loophole that defied the

sanctity of marriage and was a thorn in the Church of England's side. The Marriage Duty Act

1695 put a stop to the marriages of small parish churches that were conducted by local clergy

without the proper marriage licensing. A legal loophole was found, though, and the clergy,

or those who said they were clergy, realized they couldn't be prosecuted for shotgun weddings

should they take place on the grounds of fleet prison. And over the years, these amounted to the

thousands. A whole cottage industry popped up, and the church became horrified at the potential erosion

of personal morals and the country's social fabric.

These marriages often were without licenses or public announcements, performed under the

...