A Slip of the Anvil on Downton Abbey: Did you catch the reference?

Here's some trivia for a February Sunday afternoon: how closely are you paying attention when you watch television?

Notice the horse being shod
in the background as the
wedding proceeds. 

If you're like me, you'll be glued to the television tonight for the final episode of the second year of the PBS/BBC mini-series Downton Abbey. 

And if you're also anything like me, you knew that, sooner or later, something related to hoofcare would show up in the second series. 

A horse lost a shoe in the first series, with no farrier to be found. Lady Mary was very annoyed that she had to walk the horse home.  I thought that surely the farrier would materialize and later turn out to be the rightful heir to the estate. 

 This year, I've been waiting patiently for writer Julian Fellowes to let another hoof reference fly. And he did. 

It happened last week: Second series, episode six, the one where the war is over, but the Spanish Flu has hit instead.

But did you catch the reference? 

It was a fleeting one. Lady Sybil has eloped with her Irish anarchist chauffeur lover; they've driven off into the night when Lady Mary discovers they're missing. 

Which way did they go? You might wonder. 

But Lady Mary knew instantly where they had gone. "Oh, we must hurry! They'll be halfway to Gretna Green by now!" she gushes as she and Lady Edith rush out the door. 

That's it. The alarm is sounded: "Gretna Green" means only one thing: Lady Sybil has run away to stand in front of an anvil in Scotland. And since Downton Abbey is supposed to be in Yorkshire, they didn't have that far to go.

The dowager countess will definitely not approve.

Kilts are probably optional and you probably have to pay the piper but weddings are still big business in Gretna Green, which rivals Las Vegas as a town with a wedding-as-industry mindset.

Apparently it was the way that elopements happened for centuries in England. By crossing the border from England to Scotland, couples were eligible to be wed--no questions asked. And the first place you came to when you crossed over from Cumbria was a smithy in the hamlet of Gretna Green.

And the smith had the legal power to perform marriages.

You might wonder how I happen to know about an obscure Scottish village. Well, I've even been there. Twice. Not to get married, but to be a tourist. Gretna Green is in Dumfriesshire, just down the road from Closeburn, the ancestral home of Edward Martin, FWCF, MBE,  the great Scottish farrier and blacksmith. 

 You can bet that Gretna Green was on the tourist route for his incredible hospitality when Americans came his way. 

The history was interesting and it was sort of amusing to be tourists at the weddings of total strangers, but a gift shop full of anvil-theme items was simply a candy store for farrier visitors to take home as mementos of this unique village. It must be the anvil souvenir capital of the world.

Now that it's been mentioned on the world's favorite television drama, the wedding business must be booming in Gretna Green. But then again, it always has been.

Photos: Anvil emblem by Chris in Plymouth, smiddy interior by Andrys Stienstra, happy couple by Matt Thorpe. 

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

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UK's Largest Equestrian Center to be Built near Edward Martin's Home in Scotland

News about Mr. Edward Martin is sparse, but thanks to farrier Jean Meneley of Nevada, we do receive occasional reports. For those who don't know him, Edward Martin is the senior statesman of the worldwide farrier industry and a friend to all in the horseshoeing and blacksmithing worlds. Among Edward's many accomplishments and honors include the MBE, "Member of the British Empire", awarded by the Queen for his services to farriery. I could do a blog just about Edward!

Edward is still quite weak from the complications of Parkinson's disease, but thanks to the efforts of his sister, Jane, is still able to live at home in the little village of Closeburn in the Scottish borders district. Edward enjoys hearing from old friends, so please write to him. The fact that you may not receive a response does not lessen the value of your effort in writing to him.

Edward's neighborhood is buzzing today! Former British Olympic event rider Karen Dixon is a neighbor of Edward's, and I believe one of his former clients, as well. According to a report received from Horse & Hound (UK magazine) today, Karen and her husband Andrew have just announced plans to build the largest equestrian center in all the United Kingdom, at a cost of 30 million pounds...somewhere around $65 million. In addition to stabling, arenas, and a cross country course, the plan also calls for a village, presumably with an equestrian theme.

The location is the town of Lockerbie, site of the horrific Pan Am aircraft bombing about ten years ago, and just up the road from Edward's village. With my tongue set firmly in my cheek, I can't help but wonder if it will be called "The Robert Burns Equestrian Center", after the area's beloved native poet.

Here's a PS from Horse & Hound that I thought was interesting: "The development trend comes on the back of a recent British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) survey which found the number of people riding in Britain has nearly doubled from 2.4m in 1999 to 4.3m in 2006."

Those are numbers that you could take to the bank.