Battle of Prestonpans Jacobite Museum

Town Hall, High Street, Prestonpans, EH32 9AY

11am-4pm, Saturdays and Sundays

Group visits and school sessions available by arrangement

Our museum

Based in the Prestonpans’ victorian Town Hall building, our museum tells the story of the battle and its context. It contains an impressive diorama of the battlefield landscape, historical and archaeological artefacts, and two sections of the famous Prestonpans Tapestry. The sections of the Tapestry on display are changed every few months, to provide a regular change in the gallery and to limit the tapestry’s exposure.

Jubilee Room

The Jubilee Room was once an ante-room accessed from the hall stage. It is named after the coincidence of its original opening in 1897, the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and its refurbishment in 2022, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Jubilee Room is used for temporary exhibitions on a range of themes relating to our collection, our tapestries, and associated local heritage. Details of the exhibitions can be found here.

The Town Hall

Prestonpans Town Hall was built in 1896 to designs by the local architect Peter Whitecross. The stone was sourced quarried in Edinburgh and Dumfriesshire, and local craftsmen carried out the work. The hall was officially opened in August 1897 by Richard Haldane, who was then the MP for Haddingstonshire (now East Lothian) for 26 years. Since it opened, the hall has been used for public meetings and social functions, and even as sleeping quarters for weary “soldiers” after re-enactments of the Battle of Prestonpans! We are currently collecting memories of the Town Hall, so please get in touch if you would like to contribute a picture or a story. The 125th anniversary of the Town Hall’s opening will be celebrated on the first weekend of August 2022.

Would you like to join our team of enthusiastic volunteers? museum@battleofprestonpans1745.org