Prestongrange Museum

Overview

From the Visitor Centre you can join a free guided tour, or explore Prestongrange with a self-guided audio tour. See our historic Cornish beam engine (unique in Scotland) and brick kiln. The name Prestongrange comes from the medieval village of Preston or "Priests' Town". A "Grange" was a farm belonging to a religious house.

Today the industries of Prestongrange are silent, but once this compact area was the hub of a dynamic, successful and integrated industrial complex. And indeed, much of its story lies at the core of Scotland's Industrial Revolution.
The story of coal mining alone stretches back almost a thousand years, when coal was used to boil seawater in great metal salt pans. Salt and coal were soon being traded along the coast. The harbour enabled easy export and access to exotic raw materials.

By the Nineteenth Century, mining had supported not just salt-making but also the manufacture of bricks, clay-pipes, soap, fine pottery, chemicals, beers, and even glass in a complex of integrated industries.

The last brick-making operations closed in the nineteen seventies, and since nineteen ninety-three the site has been in the care of East Lothian Council Museums Service.

You can take an audio tour around the site or listen at home.
We have a cafe serving hot/cold drinks and snacks as well as a toyshop and bookshop.

Prestongrange holds many events throughout the year including a Family Activity Day, Children's Summer Workshops, Multi Cultural day and much more.

The Visitor Centre has an exhibition explaining the different industries on site. There is also a temporary exhibition in the Powerhouse. Check out our website for information.