The Prestonpans Tapestry is the jewel in the crown of the Trust’s collection and a tribute to both the events of 1745 and their lasting cultural resonance. Stitched by volunteers working to designs by artist Andrew Crummy, the Tapestry comprises 105m of embroidery (wool onto linen). Its panels tell the story of the two armies as they cross Scotland in 1745, culminating in the dramatic events at Prestonpans and their immediate aftermath. The Tapestry’s home is the Battle of Prestonpans Museum, where at least 10m are always on display in the main gallery. We continue to work towards a permanent home capable of displaying the Tapestry in full.
To explore the panels and the stories behind them in a slideshow format, click here.
The success of The Prestonpans Tapestry triggered something of a golden age for Scottish embroidery, inspiring a number of similar projects across the country and further afield. Amongst them is the remarkable Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, which is also managed as part of the Trust’s collection.
Books and souvenirs relating to both our tapestries can be found in our online shop.
You can find out more about the making of The Prestonpans Tapestry by watching the film below, which was made in the final stages of the Tapestry’s creation in 2010. In it, you can hear directly from some of the many people involved in the project. It lasts just over 20 minutes.
Creating the Tapestry
The Prestonpans Tapestry was created in 2009-10. The initial idea belongs to Gordon Prestoungrange, following a holiday visit to the Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy. Gordon saw striking parallels between the stories of 1745 and 1066 – would-be kings sailing across the sea to claim what they believed was rightfully theirs. Could something similar to the Bayeux Tapestry be created to tell the story of the Battle of Prestonpans? With its murals trail and arts festivals, and a powerful narrative to tell, it seemed that Prestonpans had all the necessary ingredients for an effective community arts project.
Andrew Crummy, then convenor of the Prestoungrange Arts Festival, took on the challenge of designing the tapestry. The embroidery aspects were overseen by Dorie Wilkie, with overall co-ordination administered by Gillian Hart. The stitching was shared across Scotland (and beyond) by more than 200 volunteers, each of whom has their tag in the bottom right hand corner of their panel. Recruiting the stitchers was undertaken in the initial stages by Sylvia Porter. Historical information was provided by Martin Margulies and Arran Johnston, with Gareth Bryn-Jones supporting architectural detail.
Andrew Crummy is an accomplished artist in many media and at an early stage in his life worked as an illustrator. As such he was not daunted by the challenge to create all the artwork for the many panels to a consistent style. But what style to choose? He began with the famous 18th century cartoon of Cope confirming his own defeat to Lord Kerr at Berwick on Tweed and developed that. He created black pencil sketches which were then subject to ‘sign off’ wherever possible in the communities across Scotland where the Prince and Cope travelled. He was determined that each locality should make its own contribution, and tell its own version of the events depicted.
After initial project meetings at the Prestoungrange Gothenburg pub, a trip was planned to follow in the footsteps of the Prince by visiting historic locations across the Highlands, holding a number of public meetings to help gather the volunteers needed to make the tapestry a reality. It turned out that there was no shortage of willing hands! The original intention of creating a 79-panel tapestry was soon expanding to reach the 104 narrative panels we have today. The volunteers, in both the details of their panels and the styles of their stitches, took a real and meaningful sense of ownership of their pieces, resulting a remarkable, charming, and sometimes moving tribute to the great events of 1745.
Through amazing commitment and dedication from all involved, the tapestry was completed in less than 2 years, launching with a private celebration at Greenhills in Prestonpans on 26 July 2010. A few days later, the first public exhibition was held on the isle of Eriskay.
Since then, the Tapestry has been exhibited widely across Scotland and beyond. It has even been exhibited in the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, under the same roof as its original inspiration, and as part of the International Celtic Festival in Lorient. But the Tapestry’s home is in Prestonpans. Although our current museum facilities are too small to display the whole 104m, we always have at least 10m of it on display in our gallery. We continue to work towards a permanent display space, so that the Prestonpans Tapestry can continue to tell its story for centuries yet to come.