Jacobite battlefield to get £7m visitor centre
By Ian Fraser and Mark Macaskill
The Sunday Times
August 5th, 2007
It is the site of one of Scotland’s most famous victories over the Auld Enemy yet is marked
only by a delapidated coal bing and an anonymous cairn.
Now, more than 250 years after Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite forces routed the Hanoverian troops of King George II, the battlefield of Prestonpans is to be transformed into a tourist attraction to rival Bannockburn and Culloden.
Within weeks, East Lothian council is expected to grant approval for a £7.5 million heritage centre, after an independent feasibility study concluded that it will attract more than 70,000 visitors each year and generate millions of pounds for the local economy.
The new centre, which will include a pyramid-style roof, four grand entrances and a raised walkway across the battlefield, is expected to open as early as 2011. Audiovisual techniques will recreate the atmosphere of the 18th century, using contemporary music, poetry and book readings.
Council chiefs will be given a formal presentation in the coming weeks and are expected to unanimously back the proposal. The centre is expected to receive funding from East Lothian council and the Scottish Executive, and may also seek National Lottery Funding.
The decision represents a victory for campaigners, including Brian Cox, the Scots actor who starred in Braveheart and Rob Roy, who feared that sprawling housing developments in the countryside around Prestonpans and nearby Port Seton and Cockenzie threatened the future of the battlefield.
Supporters claim a heritage centre would provide a massive boost for the region and could rival that at Bannockburn, site of Robert the Bruce’s victory in 1314, which attracts up to 80,000 people each year.
David Berry, the leader of East Lothian council, said there was huge support for Prestonpans to be given the support it deserves.
“It’s a site worth celebrating,” he said. “[We] think it’s a great idea. Edinburgh is the second more important tourism outside London and, as Prestonpans is a short train journey away, it seems a huge opportunity to tap into tourism.”
Gordon Prestoungrange, Baron of Prestoungrange and a leading campaigner for the heritage centre, said it was time Scotland celebrated a victory rather than focusing on its defeats at the hands of a historic adversary.
At Culloden, near Inverness, an £8m visitor centre marks the location of the 1746 battle at which the Young Pretender’s 4,900 strong army was largely massacred by the Duke of Cumberland’s 10,000 soldiers.
“Culloden is about bad news, but Prestonpans is about victory, hope and ambition,” said Prestoungrange. “There will be a presentation to council officials in the next few weeks and we are certain they will back this because it makes good economic sense.”
The battle of Prestonpans was one of the most decisive victories of the 1745 Jacobite campaign. Bonnie Prince Charlie’s forces defeated their adversaries in less than 15 minutes.
Hundreds of government troops were killed or wounded, while the Jacobites lost fewer than 100. The prince retired to Holyrood Palace, where he celebrated his victory with a six-week party before marching as far south as Derby.
RGA, the Edinburgh-based consultancy that carried out the feasibility study, has previously predicted accurately the level of visitor interest in the Falkirk Wheel and the Scottish Parliament.
Mona Hashem, RGA’s business development manager, said: “We are optimistic about the visitor numbers it can produce and the idea of presenting to the council is to give them our opinion. The target is to be open by 2011. It’s been a very passionate cause in an area that could use a boost.”
This article was first published on page nine of The Sunday Times Scotland on August 5th, 2007. For further information on The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust’s plans for the battlefield site, please click here
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