Jumping the broom is a phrase and custom relating to a wedding ceremony in which the couple jumps over a broom. It is most widespread among African Americans and Black Canadians, popularized during the 1970s by the novel and miniseries Roots, and originated in mid-19th-century antebellum slavery in the United States. The custom is also attested in Irish weddings.
The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans", are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town council, of an impending marriage between two specified persons. It is commonly associated with the Catholic Church, the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), the Church of England (Anglican), and with other Christian denominations whose traditions are similar. In 1983, the Catholic Church removed the requirement for banns and left it to individual national bishops' conferences to decide whether to continue the practice, but in most Catholic countries the banns are still published.
Poldark is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, that was published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, Ross Poldark, was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted for television by the BBC in 1975 and again in 2015.
A Fleet marriage was a common example of an irregular or a clandestine marriage taking place in England before the Marriage Act 1753 came into force on March 25, 1754. Specifically, it was one which took place in London's Fleet Prison or its environs during the 17th and, especially, the early 18th century.
Coldstream is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream was where the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army, originated.
The Shrigley abduction was an 1826 British case of a forced marriage by Edward Gibbon Wakefield to the 15-year-old heiress Ellen Turner of Pott Shrigley. The couple were married in Gretna Green, Scotland, and travelled to Calais, France, before Turner's father was able to notify the authorities and intervene. The marriage was annulled by Parliament, and Turner was legally married two years later, at the age of 17, to a wealthy neighbour of her class. Both Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his brother William, who had aided him, were convicted at trial and sentenced to three years in prison.
Gretna is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, originally part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire. It is located close to the A74(M) on the border of Scotland and England and near the mouth of the River Esk.
Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. An elopement is contrasted with an abduction, in which either the bride or groom has not consented, or a shotgun wedding in which the parents of one coerce both into marriage.
Coldstream Bridge, linking Coldstream, Scottish Borders with Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, is an 18th-century Category A/Grade II* listed bridge between England and Scotland, across the River Tweed. The bridge carries the A697 road across the Tweed.
Marriage is available in England and Wales to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples and is legally recognised in the forms of both civil and religious marriage. Marriage laws have historically evolved separately from marriage laws in other jurisdictions in the United Kingdom. There is a distinction between religious marriages, conducted by an authorised religious celebrant, and civil marriages, conducted by a state registrar. The legal minimum age to enter into a marriage in England and Wales is 18 since 27 February 2023. Previously the minimum age of marriage was 16, with parental permission. This also applies to civil partnerships.
Lamberton is a hilly, former landed estate in Berwickshire, Scotland, its eastern boundary being the North Sea. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the Great North Road.
The Anglo-Scottish border is an internal border of the United Kingdom separating Scotland and England which runs for 96 miles (154 km) between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west.
Marriage in Scotland is recognised in the form of both civil and religious unions between individuals. Due to Scotland's history as a previously independent country, the laws around marriage developed differently in Scotland compared to other jurisdictions that also became part of the United Kingdom. This was partly a consequence of differences in Scots law and also the role and influence of the national church of Scotland, the Church of Scotland. The tradition of couples from England and Wales eloping to Scotland to marry at border towns such as Gretna Green was due to England, at the time, having much higher minimum ages for marriage without parental consent than were required in Scotland. Today the difference in minimum ages is much closer with the legal minimum age to enter into a marriage in Scotland being sixteen years without requiring parental consent while England today allows marriage at sixteen with parental consent but eighteen without.
The marriageable age is 16 with parental consent but 18 otherwise. Marriage must be between two otherwise unmarried people. If one of the parties wishing to marry is subject to immigration control, notice of marriage can only be given at a register office, which both parties must attend together. The UK Government was obliged, under the Northern Ireland Act 2019, to extend same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland by secondary legislation that took effect on 13 January 2020. Until then, same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions were treated as civil partnerships. Civil partnerships became available to same-sex couples in December 2005 and grant rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage.
Gretna Football Club 2008 is a football club from the town of Gretna. It is the phoenix club of Gretna FC., and was founded in 2008 after the bankruptcy and demise of Gretna, which had existed since 1946. Gretna 2008 is not a direct continuation of the old club, being under a completely different management and set-up; the club trades under the name Gretna FC 2008 Ltd to avoid confusion with the old Gretna.
Poldark is the original version of the BBC television series adaptation of the novels of the same title written by Winston Graham. The adaptation was first transmitted in the UK between 1975 and 1977. The production covered all seven novels that Graham had written up to this time.
Richard Rennison was the last "anvil priest" at Gretna Green, Scotland. Between 1926 and 1940, he performed "irregular marriages" of couples over the anvil at the Old Blacksmith Shop, where the couple proclaimed that they were single and wanted to get married in front of witnesses. As "anvil priest", Rennison generally requested a fee of £1, but was known to earn up to £20 for a ceremony.
The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, also called the Marriage Act 1753, long title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act, was the first statutory legislation in England and Wales to require a formal ceremony of marriage. It came into force on 25 March 1754. The Act contributed to a dispute about the validity of a Scottish marriage, although pressure to address the problem of irregular marriages had been growing for some time.
A civil, or registrar, ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the United Kingdom, this person is typically called a registrar. In the United States, civil ceremonies may be performed by town, city, or county clerks, judges or justices of the peace, or others possessing the legal authority to support the marriage as the wedding officiant.
Sabrina Lois Bartlett is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC One miniseries The Passing Bells (2014), the third series of the ITV drama Victoria (2019), and the first series of Knightfall (2017) on History, Bridgerton (2020) on Netflix, and The Larkins (2021), also on ITV.
