Prestongrange Museum facts for kids
The colliery winding gear
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| Established | 28 September 1984 |
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| Location | 8 miles east of Edinburgh |
| Type | Industrial archaeology |
Prestongrange Museum is a cool place where you can explore Scotland's industrial past. It's located between Musselburgh and Prestonpans on the East Lothian coast. This museum helps us understand how people worked and lived during the industrial age. It was once part of the National Mining Museum, but since 1992, it has been run by the East Lothian Council Museum Service.
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What is Prestongrange Museum?
Prestongrange Museum is a special place that shows off Scotland's industrial history. It's like a giant outdoor museum filled with old machines and buildings. You can see huge machines like the winding gear from a coal mine and a giant Cornish beam engine. There are also old buildings like a powerhouse and a huge brick kiln. It's a great spot to learn about how things were made and how people worked long ago.
A Look Back: The Site's Industrial Past
For hundreds of years, Prestongrange was a very busy industrial area. Imagine a place where a harbour, a glass factory, a pottery, a coal mine, and a brick factory all existed! Monks from Newbattle Abbey first started mining for coal here way back in the 1100s. This led to a big coal mining industry. The last mine shaft at Prestongrange was dug in 1830.
A special machine called a beam engine helped pump water out of the mine. This engine was made in Cornwall and brought to Scotland in 1874. It could pump out a massive 2,955 litres of water every minute! The mine finally closed in 1963.
Today, the site is a peaceful place surrounded by trees, with views of the Firth of Forth. It's a home for wildlife, and visitors can walk around and discover the amazing old machines and structures.
Important Buildings at the Museum
Some of the buildings at Prestongrange are very important. The old pump house and its pump are listed as a Category A building, meaning they are of national importance. The old generating house and the Hoffmann kiln are also important, listed as Category B buildings.
How Prestongrange Became a Museum
In the early 1960s, many coal mines in East and Midlothian were closing. People started to worry that important parts of mining history and technology would be lost forever.
Prestongrange Colliery closed in 1962. The site was being cleared, but then a new idea came up: turn it into a museum! This idea came from David Spence, a retired mining engineer. A group was formed in 1968, and volunteers worked hard to clear the site and gather old mining equipment. The National Mining Museum officially opened at Prestongrange on September 28, 1984.
Prestongrange was a perfect place for a museum for a few reasons:
- It's mentioned in some of the earliest writings about coal mines in Scotland, dating back to the 1100s.
- The mine had Scotland's first deep shaft, dug in 1830, reaching 420 feet (128 meters) down.
- It had the last Cornish beam engine still in its original place in Scotland.
Things from other coal mines were brought to Prestongrange. The inside of the beam engine house and the old power station became museum galleries. Later, when Lady Victoria Colliery closed in 1981, the museum's plans grew to include that site too.
From 1984 to 1992, Prestongrange was part of the National Mining Museum. But then, East Lothian District Council decided to make it its own museum: Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum. This meant it would also show the history of other industries that were once important in the area, like salt making, chemical factories, soap making, glass making, pottery, and brick making.
What Can You See at Prestongrange?
When you visit Prestongrange Museum, you can explore many interesting features:
- The Hoffmann Kiln: This is a huge oven used to bake bricks.
- The Cornish engine: This is a special type of steam engine, the only one of its kind left in Scotland.
- The winding engine: This machine helped lift coal and miners in and out of the mine shaft.
- The Power House: Where electricity was generated for the mine.
- The 17th-century glass works: Remains of an old glass factory.
- The 18th-century pottery site: Where pottery was made long ago.
- The 19th-century coal mine and brick works: See where coal was dug and bricks were made.
- Morrison's Haven: A harbour from the 1500s.
- Old railway tracks and coal wagons.
- The Visitor Centre: With exhibitions to learn even more.
The Amazing Beam Engine
The beam engine at Prestongrange is a special type of steam engine called a Cornish engine. It was used to pump water out of the coal mine. Without it, the mine would have flooded!
This engine was built in Plymouth and used in three different mines in Cornwall before coming to Scotland. The Prestongrange Coal and Iron Company bought it in 1874. It was installed in a new engine house, which has a front wall nearly 7 feet (2.1 meters) thick! This thick wall was needed to support the huge cast iron beam of the engine.
The engine worked until 1954, when electric pumps took over. It's the only example of its kind still in Scotland!
Things to Do at the Museum
You can take a self-guided tour of the museum using your mobile phone. The tour is narrated by a famous painter named John Bellany, who was born nearby.
The museum is also a starting point for the annual Three Harbours Festival. This festival is organized by the communities of Prestonpans, Prestongrange, Cockenzie, and Port Seton.
The museum grounds are often used for local events, guided tours, and even re-enactments of the Battle of Prestonpans. There's also a chance that the amazing Prestonpans Tapestry might be displayed here in the future.
See also
- Industrial archaeology
- European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)
- List of places in East Lothian
