Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust

03/04/2026

The Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust is currently showing a special temporary display of six embroidered panels from Veere in the Netherlands, beautifully embroidered to tell the story of the town's connections with Scotland.
The panels are replicas of the the originals (which remain part of the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry), and have been made for Museum Veere so that they can continue to enjoy their panels wherever the original Tapestry may be!

24/03/2026

We are delighted to have received support from Museums Galleries Scotland as part of their Small Grants Fund, which will facilitate some exciting changes in our main gallery. The project is already underway and will result in improvements visible over the course of the summer, as we mark 5 years since the beginning of the town hall's refurbishment into our museum.

🎉We’re pleased to announce that £130,946 has been awarded to 14 museum organisations across the country through the latest round of our Small Grants Fund. The awarded projects focus on improving collections care, collaboration and co-production, and audience engagement.

🔭Awardees include OneRen which will use its £12,500 award to carry out essential conservation and repairs at Coats Observatory, restoring its 19th-century telescopes, original observer’s chair, and manually operated dome. This work will improve safety and functionality and enable the reopening of the observatory for public stargazing and educational activities.

📍Meanwhile, Shetland Amenity Trust has received £14,440 to deliver a collaborative project with the Bressay History Group to co-curate an exhibition on early Christianity, centred on the Bressay Stone. The project will secure a temporary loan of the stone for a three-month exhibition, reconnecting it with its place of origin while engaging local communities and increasing awareness of Shetland’s rich heritage.

⭐The awarded organisations are:
Fife Folk Museum
Inverclyde Council
East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture Trust
OneRen
The Tall Ship Glenlee
The City of Edinburgh Council
Dundee Heritage Trust
Helmsdale Heritage Society
Musselburgh Museum
Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust
Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust
The Whithorn Trust
Dunollie Museum, Castle and Grounds
Shetland Amenity Trust

🔗Find out more in our news story: https://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/news/14-organisations-share-130947-through-the-small-grants-fund/

📸: Coats Observatory.

25/01/2026

01/01/2026

Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of Robert Moodie, a local man who gave his life trying to save his pal James Peden as the two miners were working on a burning bing next to Prestonlinks Colliery a century ago.

James fell in as the "Redd Bing" next to the sea collapsed and, without a thought to his own safety, Robert dived after him into the fiery pit below. Both men were eventually rescued from the Forth, where they had crawled to sooth their burned bodies and Robert sadly died of the extensive injuries he had received.

He was awarded a posthumous Carnegie Hero Fund award and his sister Mary commissioned a headstone that noted his quiet bravery. Unfortunately, this memorial has now collapsed and is in need of some serious restoration work.

It is so important that future generations will learn of Robert's sacrifice, so we would like to fix his headstone and have sought quotes to do this from local stonemasons and the necessary permissions from East Lothian Council.

It will cost just over £1000 so we have started a Crowdfunder to raise the necessary funds. All contributions, of any amount, towards this would be very gratefully received as would the sharing of this post to further its reach.

You can find out more about what happened to Robert Moodie and about his sister Mary's fight for compensation and donate to the Crowdfunder at the link below 👇
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/repair-local-hero-robert-moodies-gravestone

13/12/2025

Please note that unfortunately our museum will be CLOSED TODAY. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
We will be OPEN TOMORROW - your last chance to visit us in 2025!

05/12/2025

On this day in 1745, the senior commanders of the Jacobite army held a series of meetings in Exeter House, Derby. At the beginning of the day, Prince Charles Edward Stuart was planning for the continuing march on London. By evening, the decision to return to Scotland had been made.

The main councils of war are believed to have been held in the panelled drawing room of the house serving as the prince’s headquarters. When Exeter House was demolished more than a century later, the panelling was carefully preserved and then reconstructed in the new Derby Museum (as shown). The mannequin of the prince which now sits on our stage in Prestonpans once sat in this room, reflecting on the decision that had been made here.

This Sunday, 7th December, to mark 280 years since the dramatic decision made here in 1745, our friends from the Alan Breck’s Regiment will once again convene a council in this room. Join us here on this page at around 1.30pm om Sunday, as we livestream from Derby Museum.

30/11/2025

Happy Saint Andrew's Day!

Did you know that the birthplace of Scotland's national flag is only 11 miles from Prestonpans battlefield? Tradition tells of the cross of St Andrew appearing in the sky before a battle at Athelstaneford in 832 AD.

At the Battle of Prestonpans the saltire formed the design of several Jacobite battle flags. Different colour combinations were used so the flags could still be used for regimental identification above the smoke of battle. Perhaps the most famous is the yellow-on-blue saltire of the Appin Regiment. The Atholl Brigade carried a red-on-white saltire, and there was a blue-on-white one too (possibly also in the Atholl Brigade, but the association is uncertain).

The saltire is also incorporated into the Union flag of course, which was carried by Sir John Cope's army as well. So both armies formed at Prestonpans with the cross of St Andrew above their lines.

28/11/2025

We are feeling a little festive at the Town Hall!

Tomorrow (Saturday 29th Nov) we will welcome Catching The Past for a special "Co-Op at Christmas" display, as well as our main 1745 exhibition and a special "Beyond the Battle" exhibition. It will be a great day to come by, so come along and see us, 11am-4pm!

22/11/2025

Our museum at Prestonpans Town Hall is OPEN as usual today and tomorrow, 11am-4pm. As well as our main exhibition on the Battle, we are showing a special display about the people and places of the battlefield community. Pop along and have a look!

09/11/2025

PRESTONPANS MURALS
Next year marks 25 years since the creation of the first murals trail in Prestonpans. All over the town, from Prestongrange to the old Power Station site, the murals celebrate local heritage, characters, landmarks, and industries. We even have one in the entrance corridor of our museum!

We will be celebrating the murals throughout next year - and we are also hoping to raise some funds to tidy up and stabilise some of the older murals as well.

It is really helpful if we can demonstrate that we are not the only people who love the murals and would like to see them celebrated and renovated, so please *if you support this idea, let us know below!*

09/11/2025

This morning, our museum is opening a little later than usual (11.30am) to allow for the Remembrance ceremony at the Civic Square.

Then our doors will be open to offer a warm welcome as always - including our new "Beyond the Battle" exhibition.

08/10/2025

280 Years Ago...

Whilst the situation remained tense within Edinburgh itself, the Jacobite army was active across the Lothians on security patrols, recruitment parties, and revenue raising. Apart from the guard posts within the city, most of the army was kept outside the walls. This was a crucial period for the army as it grew in numbers, with much attention given to training and equipping the regiments ahead of the next phase of the campaign.

This detail is taken from Panel 101 of The Prestonpans Tapestry, stitched by Jacquie McNally in Musselburgh.

You can currently view the whole of the Tapestry at the Battle of Prestonpans Museum, open every weekend.

https://www.battleofprestonpans1745.org/museum/