Tour Scotland Video Battlefield Site Prestonpans East Lothian

Tour Scotland video of the Battlefied site on ancestry visit to Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland. A replica of the standard raised by Bonnie Prince Charlie at Glenfinnan in 1745 flying above the viewing platform overlooking the ground on which the Battle of Prestonpans was fought during the second Jacobite Rising. Its colours are the red, white and blue of the Stuart dynasty. This was the first significant conflict in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The battle took place at 4 am on 21 September 1745. The Jacobite army loyal to James Francis Edward Stuart and led by his son Charles Edward Stuart defeated the government army loyal to the Hanoverian George II led by Sir John Cope.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Tour Scotland Video Northfield House Doocot Prestonpans East Lothian

Tour Scotland video of Northfield House Doocot on ancestry, genealogy, history visit and trip to Prestonpans, eight miles East of Edinburgh in East Lothian. 16th century Scottish beehive shaped doocot also known as a dovecot with a flattish domed covered roof. It contains approximately 600 stone nests and is still in use. A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in Western Europe and were kept for their eggs, flesh, and dung. In Scotland the tradition is continued in modern urban areas.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Tour Scotland Video Preston Tower Prestonpans East Lothian

Tour Scotland video of Preston Tower on ancestry visit to Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland. The name Preston means Priest town and the land was first owned by the monks of Newbattle Abbey in Dalkeith. Preston Tower is just one of a chain of some ten Hamilton strongholds running from Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran in the west to Innerwick Castle near Dunbar in the east. This Scottish tower was badly damaged by fire on three occasions. First in 1544 by the English during the wars of the Rough Wooing where by the method of castle burning they hoped to force the marriage of the infant Mary Queen of Scots to the English Prince Edward. Secondly, it was burnt by Oliver Cromwell in 1650 during his systematic destruction of Lothian castles after his victory over the Scots at the battle of Dunbar. Finally, the tower was accidentally set ablaze in 1663. Preston Tower was purchased by the National Trust for Scotland in 1969. It is currently under the guardianship of East Lothian Council.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Tour Scotland Video Beam Engine Prestongrange Museum East Lothian

Tour Scotland video of the old Beam Engine on visit to Prestongrange Museum, East Lothian, Scotland. The beam engine is a Cornish engine, an early type of steam engine, used to pump water from the coal mine to prevent the workings from becoming flooded. It was manufactured by J. E. Mare & Company of Plymouth, England, to the design of engineers Hocking & Loam and used in three different mines in Cornwall before being purchased by the Prestongrange Coal and Iron Company in 1874 and shipped north. It was bought from a Cornish Mine site by Harvey and Company of Hayle, who sold it on to Prestongrange complete with a new beam of their own manufacture. The engine was installed in a new engine house, whose front wall is nearly 7 feet thick in order to support the main pivot bearing of the huge cast iron beam. The engine continued operating until 1954, when it was superseded by electric pumps, only eight years before the colliery closed. The engine is the only example in Scotland

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Tour Scotland Video Fisherrow Harbour East Lothian

Tour Scotland video of Fisherrow harbour on ancestry, genealogy, history visit and trip to Musselburgh, East Lothian, There has been fishing at Fisherrow and Musselburgh since Roman times, and the present 18th century harbour is very close to the Roman harbour which served the Inveresk Roman fort on the high ground east of the River Esk. The Fisherrow fishermen used to fish for herring,and later for white fish, prawns and sprats. The harbour was home to a large fishing fleet.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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