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{{Short description|Industry museum in Prestongrange, Scotland}}
The '''Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum''' is an [[industrial heritage]] [[museum]] at [[Prestonpans]], on the [[East Lothian]] coast, [[Scotland]] [[UK]].
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{primary sources|date=June 2008}}
{{Infobox museum
|name = Prestongrange Museum
|image = Prestongrange windinggear.jpg
|imagesize = 200
|caption = The colliery winding gear
|map_type =
|map_caption =
|coordinates = {{coord|55.955|-2.997|display=inline}}
|established = 28 September 1984
|dissolved =
|location = 8 miles east of Edinburgh
|type = Industrial archaeology
|visitors =
|director =
|curator =
|publictransit =
|website = [http://www.prestongrange.org/ www.prestongrange.org]
}}


'''Prestongrange Museum''' is an [[industrial heritage]] museum at [[Prestongrange]] between [[Musselburgh]] and [[Prestonpans]] on the B1348 on the [[East Lothian]] coast, Scotland. Founded as the original site of the [[National Mining Museum, Scotland|National Mining Museum]], its operation reverted to [[East Lothian Council]] Museum Service (the current operators) in 1992.

==History of the site==
For centuries, Prestongrange was a place of intense industrial activity. A harbour, glass works, pottery, colliery, and brickworks have all left their marks on the landscape.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}} Monks from [[Newbattle Abbey]] first mined for coal in the area in the 12th century. From that, a coal mining industry developed and the first shaft of Prestongrange's last mine was sunk in 1830. A beam engine, modified by Harvey and Company of Hoyle in Cornwall and shipped to Scotland in 1874, pumped water out of the pit in three stages at 2,955 litres a minute. The mine was eventually closed in 1963.<ref name=":0" />

Cradled by woodland with views out over the Firth of Forth, the site is now a haven for wildlife where visitors are free to roam and explore monumental relics of Scotland's industrial heritage and discover giant machines such as the pit head winding gear and the Cornish beam engine, structures such as the powerhouse and a vast brick kiln, as well as coal wagons, a steam crane and more besides.{{Peacock inline|date=June 2022}}

The pump house and pump is a [[Category A listed building]].<ref name=":0">{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB17534|desc=PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, PUMP HOUSE AND PUMP|cat=A|access-date=24 February 2019}}</ref> The old generating house and the Hoffmann kiln are both Category B listed.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB17535|desc=PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, OLD GENERATING HOUSE|cat=B|access-date=24 February 2019|fewer-links=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB47020|desc=PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, HOFFMAN KILN|cat=B|access-date=24 February 2019|fewer-links=yes}}</ref>

==Development of Prestongrange Museum==
[[File:Prestongrange Brick.jpg|left|120px|thumb|Brick in the museum's collection]]
By the early 1960s, the strategy of the [[National Coal Board]] meant that all of East Lothian's and most of Midlothian's collieries were earmarked for closure. At the same time, within the coalfield community, there was an awareness that technology and culture was also changing and much that was of significance was in danger of being lost forever.

Prestongrange Colliery had closed in 1962 and the site began to be cleared. However, work stopped when a new plan to turn the site into a museum was adopted. The museum was the idea of David Spence, a retired mining engineer. A steering committee was formed in 1968. Volunteers worked to clear the site and assemble exhibits. The National Mining Museum was formally launched at Prestongrange on 28 September 1984.<ref>Scottish Collieries; an inventory; Miles K Oglethorpe; The Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland; Edinburgh; 2006</ref>

Prestongrange had three key merits as a museum site. First, the estate features in the earliest written account of collieries in Scotland, often dated to 1180–1210. Second, the existing colliery included the first deep shaft in Scotland, which [[Matthias Dunn]] of Newcastle sank in 1830 to the Great Seam at {{convert|420|ft|m|0}}. Third, the colliery housed the last Cornish beam engine remaining in situ in Scotland.

Artefacts were collected from around the coalfield and stored at Prestongrange. The interior of the beam engine house and the colliery power station became galleries. With the closure of Lady Victoria Colliery at [[Newtongrange]] in 1981, the ambitions of the steering group expanded to include that site. After operating together from 1984 to 1992, Prestongrange was withdrawn from the National Mining Museum by East Lothian District Council and recast as Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum to encompass the area's other once significant but vanished industries – [[History of salt|salt boiling]], [[chemical synthesis]] (particularly [[Sulfuric acid|sulphuric acid]]), [[Soap| soap making]], [[Glass| glass making]], [[Pottery|potteries]], industrial ceramics and bricks.

[[File:Prestongrange Visitor Centre.jpg|thumb|The Visitor Centre]]
[[File:Cornish Beam Engine2.jpg|thumb|The beam engine house, showing the 'outer' (pump) end of the beam.]]
[[File:Cornish Beam Engine1.jpg|thumb|The 'inner' (cylinder) end of the beam engine.]]
[[File:Prestongrange Powerhouse.jpg|thumb|The powerhouse]]
[[File:BeamEngine&AudioTour.jpg|thumb|Beam engine & Audio Tour]]


==Main features==
==Main features==
*the [[Hoffmann Kiln]]
*the [[Hoffmann Kiln]] (or, more precisely, the Hoffmann Continuous Kiln)
*the [[Beam engine|Cornish Beam Engine]]
*the [[Cornish engine]] (a type of [[beam engine]]) the only one in Scotland
*the [[Winding Engine]]
*the [[winding engine]]
*the Power House
*the Power House
*the 17th century [[glass works]]
*the 17th century [[glass works]]
*the 18th century [[pottery site]]
*the 18th century [[pottery]] site
*the 19th century [[coal mine]] and [[brick works]]
*the 19th century [[coal mine]] and [[brick]] works
*[[Morrison's Haven]], the 16th century [[harbour]]
*[[Morrison's Haven]], the 16th century [[harbour]]
*the railway (remains) and rolling stock
*the Visitor Centre with its exhibition


==External links==
==Beam engine==
The beam engine is a [[Cornish engine]], an early type of [[steam engine]], used to pump water from the coal mine to prevent the workings from becoming flooded. It was manufactured by J. E. Mare & Co of Plymouth to the design of engineers Hocking & Loam and used in three different mines in [[Cornwall]] before being purchased by the Prestongrange Coal and Iron Company in 1874 and shipped north. It was bought from a Cornish Mine site by Harvey and Company of Hayle, who sold it on to Prestongrange complete with a new beam of their own manufacture.<ref>Brown, K. 1982. Prestongrange 70-inch Cornish engine - a myth exploded, Journal of the Trevithick Soc. 9, 42-51.</ref> The engine was installed in a new engine house, whose front wall is nearly {{convert|7|ft|m}} thick in order to support the main pivot bearing of the huge cast iron beam.<ref name=BeamEng>{{cite web | title = Discover Prestongrange | work = 6 - Cornish Beam Engine | publisher = East Lothian Council | date = 2004 | url = http://www.prestongrange.org/tour/6.html | access-date = 2008-05-28}}</ref>
*[http://www.prestongrange.org The Museum's website]


The engine continued operating until 1954, when it was superseded by electric pumps, only eight years before the colliery closed. The engine is the only example in Scotland.<ref name=BeamEng />
==Photo gallery==

<gallery>
==Facilities==
Image:Prestongrange Museum1.jpg
A self-guided tour by mobile phone is available, and it is narrated by the painter [[John Bellany]] who was born in [[Port Seton]].
Image:Prestongrange Visitor Centre.jpg

Image:Prestongrange windinggear.jpg
The museum is also the gateway to the annual [[Three Harbours Festival]], jointly organised by the communities of [[Prestonpans]], [[Prestongrange]], [[Cockenzie]], [[Port Seton]] and other nearby areas such as West Pans and Drum Mhor.
Image:Cornish Beam Engine1.jpg

Image:Cornish Beam Engine2.jpg
The museum grounds are also used for local events, guided tours, theatrical performances, and during the re-enactments of the [[Battle of Prestonpans]]. Since the completion of the [[Prestonpans Tapestry]] in July 2010, there is a possibility that this artwork may find a temporary or permanent home at Prestongrange.{{Needs citation|date=June 2022}}
Image:Prestongrange Brick.jpg

Image:Prestongrange Powerhouse.jpg
==See also==
Image:PrestongrangeMuseum2.jpg
*[[Industrial archaeology]]
*[[European Route of Industrial Heritage]] (ERIH)
*[[List of places in East Lothian]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum}}
*[https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/210593/museums/11878/museums_in_east_lothian/4 The Museum's website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111112164544/http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-levantmineandbeamengine National Trust website on Levant Beam Engine]
*[http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=001-000-101-780-L SCRAN database, part of RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland)]


[[Category:Industry museums in Scotland]]
{{underconstruction}}
[[Category:Steam museums in Scotland]]
[[Category:Museums in East Lothian]]
[[Category:1984 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Museums established in 1984]]
[[Category:Category A listed buildings in East Lothian]]
[[Category:Mining museums in Scotland]]

Latest revision as of 02:13, 7 November 2024

Prestongrange Museum
The colliery winding gear
Map
Established28 September 1984
Location8 miles east of Edinburgh
Coordinates55°57′18″N 2°59′49″W / 55.955°N 2.997°W / 55.955; -2.997
TypeIndustrial archaeology
Websitewww.prestongrange.org

Prestongrange Museum is an industrial heritage museum at Prestongrange between Musselburgh and Prestonpans on the B1348 on the East Lothian coast, Scotland. Founded as the original site of the National Mining Museum, its operation reverted to East Lothian Council Museum Service (the current operators) in 1992.

History of the site

[edit]

For centuries, Prestongrange was a place of intense industrial activity. A harbour, glass works, pottery, colliery, and brickworks have all left their marks on the landscape.[citation needed] Monks from Newbattle Abbey first mined for coal in the area in the 12th century. From that, a coal mining industry developed and the first shaft of Prestongrange's last mine was sunk in 1830. A beam engine, modified by Harvey and Company of Hoyle in Cornwall and shipped to Scotland in 1874, pumped water out of the pit in three stages at 2,955 litres a minute. The mine was eventually closed in 1963.[1]

Cradled by woodland with views out over the Firth of Forth, the site is now a haven for wildlife where visitors are free to roam and explore monumental relics of Scotland's industrial heritage and discover giant machines such as the pit head winding gear and the Cornish beam engine, structures such as the powerhouse and a vast brick kiln, as well as coal wagons, a steam crane and more besides.[peacock prose]

The pump house and pump is a Category A listed building.[1] The old generating house and the Hoffmann kiln are both Category B listed.[2][3]

Development of Prestongrange Museum

[edit]
Brick in the museum's collection

By the early 1960s, the strategy of the National Coal Board meant that all of East Lothian's and most of Midlothian's collieries were earmarked for closure. At the same time, within the coalfield community, there was an awareness that technology and culture was also changing and much that was of significance was in danger of being lost forever.

Prestongrange Colliery had closed in 1962 and the site began to be cleared. However, work stopped when a new plan to turn the site into a museum was adopted. The museum was the idea of David Spence, a retired mining engineer. A steering committee was formed in 1968. Volunteers worked to clear the site and assemble exhibits. The National Mining Museum was formally launched at Prestongrange on 28 September 1984.[4]

Prestongrange had three key merits as a museum site. First, the estate features in the earliest written account of collieries in Scotland, often dated to 1180–1210. Second, the existing colliery included the first deep shaft in Scotland, which Matthias Dunn of Newcastle sank in 1830 to the Great Seam at 420 feet (128 m). Third, the colliery housed the last Cornish beam engine remaining in situ in Scotland.

Artefacts were collected from around the coalfield and stored at Prestongrange. The interior of the beam engine house and the colliery power station became galleries. With the closure of Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange in 1981, the ambitions of the steering group expanded to include that site. After operating together from 1984 to 1992, Prestongrange was withdrawn from the National Mining Museum by East Lothian District Council and recast as Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum to encompass the area's other once significant but vanished industries – salt boiling, chemical synthesis (particularly sulphuric acid), soap making, glass making, potteries, industrial ceramics and bricks.

The Visitor Centre
The beam engine house, showing the 'outer' (pump) end of the beam.
The 'inner' (cylinder) end of the beam engine.
The powerhouse
Beam engine & Audio Tour

Main features

[edit]

Beam engine

[edit]

The beam engine is a Cornish engine, an early type of steam engine, used to pump water from the coal mine to prevent the workings from becoming flooded. It was manufactured by J. E. Mare & Co of Plymouth to the design of engineers Hocking & Loam and used in three different mines in Cornwall before being purchased by the Prestongrange Coal and Iron Company in 1874 and shipped north. It was bought from a Cornish Mine site by Harvey and Company of Hayle, who sold it on to Prestongrange complete with a new beam of their own manufacture.[5] The engine was installed in a new engine house, whose front wall is nearly 7 feet (2.1 m) thick in order to support the main pivot bearing of the huge cast iron beam.[6]

The engine continued operating until 1954, when it was superseded by electric pumps, only eight years before the colliery closed. The engine is the only example in Scotland.[6]

Facilities

[edit]

A self-guided tour by mobile phone is available, and it is narrated by the painter John Bellany who was born in Port Seton.

The museum is also the gateway to the annual Three Harbours Festival, jointly organised by the communities of Prestonpans, Prestongrange, Cockenzie, Port Seton and other nearby areas such as West Pans and Drum Mhor.

The museum grounds are also used for local events, guided tours, theatrical performances, and during the re-enactments of the Battle of Prestonpans. Since the completion of the Prestonpans Tapestry in July 2010, there is a possibility that this artwork may find a temporary or permanent home at Prestongrange.[citation needed]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Historic Environment Scotland. "PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, PUMP HOUSE AND PUMP (Category A Listed Building) (LB17534)". Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  2. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, OLD GENERATING HOUSE (Category B Listed Building) (LB17535)". Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "PRESTONGRANGE COLLIERY, HOFFMAN KILN (Category B Listed Building) (LB47020)". Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. ^ Scottish Collieries; an inventory; Miles K Oglethorpe; The Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland; Edinburgh; 2006
  5. ^ Brown, K. 1982. Prestongrange 70-inch Cornish engine - a myth exploded, Journal of the Trevithick Soc. 9, 42-51.
  6. ^ a b "Discover Prestongrange". 6 - Cornish Beam Engine. East Lothian Council. 2004. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
[edit]