Prestonpans Battlefield Viewpoint

Landscaped Coal Bing acts as an Outlook to the Site of the Battle of Prestonpans
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Landscaped Coal Bing acts as an Outlook to the Site of the Battle of Prestonpans

Located at Meadowmill, to the east of Prestonpans in East Lothian, the Prestonpans Battlefield Viewpoint represents a former coal bing, shaped into a low pyramid. It offers panoramic views over the site of the Battle of Prestonpans, which took place on 20-21 September 1745 and was a perhaps-unexpected victory for the Jacobite army under Bonnie Prince Charlie (1720-88) over the Government army of General Sir John Cope (1688 - 1760). Prestonpans Battlefield extends over a sizeable area around the monument and Interpretation panels explain the phases of the battle, while flags mark out the monument from a distance. The land that once formed the battlefield now represents a combination of an agricultural and post-industrial landscape, overlooking the sites of former coal mines, the former Cockenzie Power Station, together with several high-voltage power lines once associated with the latter. The pyramid is shaped from waste came that from a coal-washer here associated with the nearby Bankton Colliery, while the short-lived Meadowmill Mine was sunk here in 1954 but closed in 1960.

The battle is also commemorated by a cairn at the junction with the B1361 road, while further interpretation is provided in the nearby Bankton Doocot.


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