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.