Preston Tower Visit 18 Oct 2025
2025-10-18 14:00 - 16:30 (Europe/London) | East Lothian
The Society is delighted to offer Members an opportunity for a private tour of Preston Tower, Doocot and Garden on Saturday 18th October, 2025, 2.00 PM for 2.30 PM. Our visit will be hosted by Friends of Preston Tower, a local group of community-focused volunteers.

Preston Tower is a Scheduled Monument consisting of a partially ruined Tower House, Doocot and Garden nestling in the heart of the town of Prestonpans. The lower storeys of the tower are of 15th century origin whilst the upper mini Renaissance Palace (and probably the Doocot) was added in the early 17th century. There are two documented burnings of the Tower, firstly in 1544 during the Rough Wooing and again in 1650 by Oliver Cromwell’s forces. The Tower remained in use as a home until around 1700 when it was permanently abandoned by the Hamilton family. From the mid-19th century the Tower functioned as the centrepiece of a commercial market garden and in the late 1960s passed into the ownership of the National Trust for Scotland. Currently access is limited to the first floor great hall reached via a new external staircase, the ground floor vaulted chamber with its own entrance, and the nearby doocot which was substantially repaired at the same time the tower was being renovated.

Visit plan

Address: 30 Cross Cottages, Prestonpans, EH32 9EJ.

There will be two groups that will alternate between the Tower and Doocot & Garden.

There will be no charge for the visit but attendees are asked to consider donations towards the running costs of the Friends of Preston Tower: either in cash or on-line via a QR code.

Please note that there is no dedicated parking at the Tower. The adjacent car park is private for the housing association. However there is ample on-street parking as well as at the nearby community centre close to the Mercat cross. The nearest public toilets are on Ayres Wynd, just off the High Street: follow West Loan north.

Places will understandably be limited so to reserve a place please contact Elaine Whewell at info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

“The material landscapes of Scotland’s jewellery craft.” Saturday 1st November 2025
2025-11-01 14:30 - 17:00 | East Lothian
The Society is delighted to present this talk by Dr Sarah Laurenson at 2.30 PM, Saturday, 1st November, 2025.

The venue will be at Holy Trinity Church, Church Street, Haddington

Dr Sarah Laurenson is Principal Curator and Head of Modern and Contemporary History at National Museums Scotland. This talk will be based on her recent extensively researched and beautifully illustrated book entitled as above.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, jewellers sourced and used a range of materials from Scotland’s varied natural landscape: precious gold and silver, sparkling crystals and colourful agates, freshwater pearls and shells. This talk traces these materials on their journey from hill and shore to the jewellers bench and explores how these materials shaped new ways of working with and thinking about the natural world during the age of industry.

Members can expect a most interesting and colourful journey into the world of Scottish jewellery.

For any enquiries contact Elaine Whewell: info@eastlothianantiquarians.org.uk

Non members welcome with a modest cash donation appreciated

Church parking is limited to Blue Badge holders plus otherwise mobility compromised

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation No: SC052295

“New looks at old pasts: the impact of LiDAR on our understanding of the landscape in the Border counties.”
2025-11-22 14:30 - 17:00 | East Lothian
Stratford Halliday LIDAR FINAL PDFDownload

“The travels of the 2nd Sir Hew Dalrymple and his wife”
2025-12-13 14:30 - 17:00 | East Lothian
Sir Hew Dalrymple will give a talk based on correspondence between the 2nd Sir Hew and his wife when he travelled north from London to Scotland in the summer of 1744.

Peebles Hoard
2026-01-31 14:30 - 17:00 | East Lothian
A talk on the “Peebles Hoard” is being sought. This is a spectacular collection of bronze, leather and wooden material dating from the Late Bronze Age (c.1000-800 BCE). Many of these objects have never been found before in Scotland. It would be an excellent companion to the Fraser Hunter talk on the Traprain Roman treasure.

“Farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914”
2026-02-21 14:30 - 17:00 | East Lothian
David McLean will give a talk on the farm servants of South East Scotland between 1750 and 1914. This will describe the lives of thousands of farm servants and bondagers who worked on the improved farms of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire and East Lothian through the years of the great agricultural revolution.

“The incredible scientific pioneering life of Lord Kelvin”
2026-03-21 14:30 - 17:00 | Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 6A Church Street, Haddington EH41 3EX ·
Professor Martin-Torres FRSE will describe the life of William Thomson, known in history as Lord Kelvin (of the temperature scale). Thomson enrolled at the University of Edinburgh at just 10 years old. He had an insatiable curiosity and interdisciplinary approach to science leading him to explore diverse areas of inquiry – from thermodynamics, electromagnetism to geophysics and navigation and much more besides.
