Prestongrange House is a historic house at Prestongrange near Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland, UK. It is situated near to two other historic houses, Hamilton House and Northfield House.
Prestongrange House is now the site of Royal Musselburgh Golf Club. The house is set in a thickly wooded park and is in the Scottish baronial style.
Prestongrange estate was passed from Newbattle Abbey, whose monks had started coal mining at Prestongrange by the 13th century, to the Kerrs, later Earls of Lothian. Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian, received a ratification in 1587 which mentions the manor of Prestongrange. In 1609 the property was sold to the Morrison family, with Sir Alexander Morrison of Prestongrange being mentioned in sources from the 1640s, then William Morrison of Prestongrange in the 1690s and 1700s. In 1746 the estate was bought by William Grant, Lord Prestongrange who was Lord Advocate, and when his daughter, Agnes Grant, married Sir George Suttie of Balgone it passed to the Grant-Sutties. The Grant-Suttie family remained at Prestongrange until the early 20th Century. [1] One of the most notable residents was Lady Susan Harriet Grant-Suttie, who took an active role in local politics, education, welfare and social charities. In 1925 the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club took lease of the house from the Grant-Sutties, commissioning James Braid to design their new golf course. [2] In 1956 the house and ground were sold to the Coal Industry & Social Welfare Organisation who continue to lease the land to the golf club. [3]
Prestongrange House, set in wooded parkland with view north over the Firth of Forth, is a large baronial mansion of three and four storeys, with square and round towers capped by ogee and conical roofs. The entrance tower has a semi-octagonal shape, the building incorporates structures which date back as far as the 15th or 16th centuries, possibly the 12th century. These older features include most of the main block and the stairtower. [1] The house was rebuilt internally in around 1750. William Henry Playfair began work to extend the house in 1830 with the construction of a three-storey block to the south which has an octagonal entrance tower, he also added some structure to the eastern end. In 1850 Playfair added a square tower to the east of the house. [4] Playfair's western tower is similar to work he carried out at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and at Floors Castle near Kelso. [2]
A painted ceiling dated 1581 was rediscovered within the house in 1965. This was the finest remaining Scottish painted renaissance ceiling, and stylistically reflects the first flowering of the court of James VI. The design includes four "droll" figures which were inspired by a French illustrated book Richard Breton's Songes drôlatiques de Pantagruel . [5] Originally, this painted hall featured a "buffet" or cupboard presented to Mark Kerr, Commendator of Newbattle, and his wife Helen Leslie, by Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, the favourite of James VI. [6] The ceiling was removed and installed in Merchiston Castle tower at Napier University.
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was also known as Haddingtonshire.
Marquess of Lothian is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, which was created in 1701 for Robert Kerr, 4th Earl of Lothian. The Marquess of Lothian holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Lothian, Earl of Lothian, Earl of Ancram (1633), Earl of Ancram, Viscount of Briene (1701), Lord Newbattle (1591), Lord Jedburgh (1622), Lord Kerr of Newbattle (1631), Lord Kerr of Nisbet, Langnewtoun, and Dolphinstoun (1633), Lord Kerr of Newbattle, Oxnam, Jedburgh, Dolphinstoun and Nisbet (1701), and Baron Ker, of Kersheugh in the County of Roxburgh (1821), all but the last in the Peerage of Scotland. As The Lord Ker in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, previous marquesses sat in the House of Lords before 1963, when Scottish peers first sat in the House of Lords in their own right. The holder of the marquessate is also the Chief of Clan Kerr.
Clan Kerr is a Scottish clan whose origins lie in the Scottish Borders. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the prominent border reiver clans along the present-day Anglo-Scottish border and played an important role in the history of the Border country of Scotland.
Tranent is a town in East Lothian, in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the parish splitting the parish from its associated villages and hamlets namely Meadowmill and the port of the parish Cockenzie. The original main post road ran straight through the town until the new A1 was built. Built on a gentle slope, about 90 metres (300 ft) above sea level it is one of the oldest towns in East Lothian. The population of the town is approximately 12,140, an increase of over 4,000 since 2001. Tranent was formerly a major mining town, but now serves as a commuter town for Edinburgh.
Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He became the first Earl of Lothian in 1606.
Prestonpans is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the unitary council area of East Lothian. The population as of 2020 is 10,460. It is near the site of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans. The town, established in the eleventh century, has a variety of important historical architecture, including: Preston Tower and the doocot and the local Mercat Cross, which is the only one of its kind in Scotland that remains in its original form and location. Prestonpans is "Scotland's Mural Town", with many murals depicting local history.
Newbattle Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution.
Pinkie House is a historic house, built around a three-storey tower house located in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. The house dates from the 16th century, was substantially enlarged in the early 17th century, and has been altered several times since. Its location at grid reference NT348726 is to the east of the town centre, on the south side of the High Street. The building now forms part of Loretto School, an independent boarding school. Pinkie House is not far from the site of the disastrous Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, fought in 1547.
Preston was a village on the East Lothian coast of Scotland, and is now a small part of the centre of Prestonpans. It is to the east of Prestongrange, and the southwest of Cockenzie and Port Seton.
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 in 1992.
Prestongrange is a place in East Lothian, Scotland, UK, situated between Musselburgh to the west, and Prestonpans in the east.
The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club is a golf club at Prestongrange House, Prestongrange near Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland, on the B1361.
Morrison's Haven is a harbour at Prestongrange, East Lothian, Scotland, UK, on the B1348, close to Levenhall Links, Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum, Prestonpans, and Prestongrange House.
Northfield House is a seventeenth-century historic house at Preston, East Lothian, Scotland, UK. It is situated very close to Hamilton House and Preston Tower, and one mile east to Prestongrange House and the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club. It is a Category A listed building.
Prestongrange Parish Church is a Church of Scotland kirk situated in the small, former mining town of Prestonpans in East Lothian. The church was built in 1596, one of the first churches to be built in Scotland following the Scottish Reformation in 1560. In 1606, Prestonpans was created a parish in its own right following centuries of being part of the parish of Tranent.
Bankton House is a late 17th-century house situated south of Prestonpans in East Lothian, Scotland. The house is located between the A1 road and the East Coast Main Line railway at grid reference NT394736.
Scottish renaissance painted ceilings are decorated ceilings in Scottish houses and castles built between 1540 and 1640. This is a distinctive national style, though there is common ground with similar work elsewhere, especially in France, Spain and Scandinavia. An example in England, at Wickham, Hampshire, was recorded in 1974. There are records of over 100 examples, and a much smaller number of painted ceilings survive in-situ today. Some salvaged painted beams and boards are stored by Historic Environment Scotland. The paintings at Crathes Castle, dating from 1597 are probably the best known.
Mark Kerr or Ker was a Scottish churchman who became abbot of Newbattle, and then joined the reformers.
Helen Leslie, Lady Newbattle (1520-1594) was a Scottish aristocrat and supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.