Preston Tower is a ruined L-plan

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

in the ancient Scottish village of

Prestonpans Prestonpans ( , Scots: ''The Pans'') is a mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the council area of East Lothian. The population as of is . It is near the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans (first ...

. It is situated within a few metres of two other

historic house A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be i ...

s, Hamilton House and Northfield House.

History

The original structure, some of which may date from the 14th century, has four storeys. A further two storeys were added above the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

in 1626, with

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

windows bearing the initials SIDKH (Sir John and Dame Katherine Hamilton). The entrance to the Tower had a

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing structures open on one or more sides (colloquially referred to as lean-tos in spite of being unattac ...

hoarding from which items could be dropped, for instance boulders, hot sand, or boiling oil. Preston passed by marriage to the "haughty Hamiltons" (also known as "Hameldone") at the close of the 14th century. David Hamilton of Preston went to France with

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

in 1536. Preston Tower was burnt by the

Earl of Hertford Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

on 16 May 1544 following the

burning of Edinburgh The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and Edinburgh, and the city was burnt on 7 May. However, ...

during the war known as the

Rough Wooing The Rough Wooing (; December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break with the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland ...

. David Hamilton was a Master Usher for

Regent Arran In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

, and a depute warden of the Middle March of the border with England. The Preston estate included a coal mine, and John Hamilton sent coal by boat to

Dunbar Castle Dunbar Castle was one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the Dunbar Harbour, harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. Several fortifications were built successively on the site, near th ...

. During her Regency of Scotland,

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

anticipated an English invasion and asked Hamilton and the inhabitants of Prestonpans and Tranent to accommodate and provide food for French soldiers in May 1555 and February 1558. Supplies for the forts at

Eyemouth Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name ...

and

Inchkeith Inchmichael (Formerly Inchkeith) (from the ) is an island in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, administratively part of the Fife council area. In 2025, Newly appointed Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament in the Mid-Scotland and Fife ...

, including building lime, were shipped from Preston. Hamilton fought for

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

at the

battle of Langside The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disast ...

. David Hamilton's widow, Jonet Bailie, died in 1592. Her will mentions cattle and hogs on the farm, and an iron chain and winch with buckets for draining a mine. Their son George married Barbara Cockburn (died November 1610), a daughter of John Cockburn of

Ormiston Ormiston is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, near Tranent, Humbie, Pencaitland and Cranston, located on the north bank of the River Tyne at an elevation of about . The village was the first planned village in Scotland, founded in 173 ...

. In 1587, George Hamilton of Preston and his brothers Patrick and John Hamilton feuar of Preston had attacked the lawyer and author Habbakuk Bissett at

St Giles' Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral (), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; ...

, injuring his hand. Patrick Hamilton was captain of Brodick Castle and committed other crimes on Arran, and was denounced as a rebel. John Hamilton was imprisoned in

Blackness Castle Blackness Castle is a 15th-century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Falkirk, Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by George Crichton, 1st Earl of Caithness ...

to await trial. In August 1617,

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

(who had returned to Scotland for a visit) made Preston and Prestonpans a free barony for George Hamilton's grandson John and his wife Jean Otterburn, including rights to hold St Jerome's fair for three days in October and rebuild the harbour. John Hamilton and the Earl of Lothian held a trial for John Hunter, the blacksmith in Prestonpans. Over several years he had stolen iron plough shares and fittings from farms in the neighbouring villages for scrap metal. John married secondly, Katherine Howison (died 1629) and their initials were carved on Preston Tower. They employed a stone mason, William Pedden, who also worked at Winton Castle, and a glazier, James Wauche. A family pew in the church also featured their carved initials and painted heraldry. The tower was burnt again in 1650

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

with the loss of the family records. After being restored it burnt again, accidentally, in 1663 and was abandoned for the nearby Preston House, East Lothian. One of the Hamilton family was the noted

covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

Robert Hamilton, a commander in the battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig. After this, the family were forfeited in 1684, but recovered the property in the 19th century. Preston Tower was purchased by the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

in 1969. It is currently under the guardianship of

East Lothian Council East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards. History East Lothian District Council had been ...

. The site also has a

laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''— ...

arch, and a

herb garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...

, and a

lectern A lectern is a standing reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of ...

-style doocot which dates from the mid-17th century, after Cromwell had sacked the Tower. Preston Tower has a pit-prison but the Preston Merkat Cross was eventually used as the local prison instead.

Photo gallery

File:PrestonTower1.jpg File:PrestonTower03.jpg File:PrestonTower doocot.jpg, Lectern doocot at Preston Tower File:Preston Tower August 2018.jpg

References

External links

Video about Preston Tower's history

A Structural History of Preston Tower

Drawing of Preston Tower, 1834, Joseph Turner, Tate
{{coord, 55.9557, -2.9781, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Castles in East Lothian Scheduled monuments in East Lothian Tower houses in Scotland Prestonpans

History

Photo gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links