Prestonpans Mural Trail. The Dark Ages. Witchcraft Uncovered.

                                                 ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Prestonpans has more going for it than just a seafront boardwalk so I thought it deserved a second post in its own right. Originally founded on fishing, coal, sea salt, soap and other industries... in the modern era  it had to find a way to reinvent itself. Like many post industrial towns and villages it went into a decades long decline since the 1960s-1980s and those traditional industries, mines and jobs dried up. Compared to some of the more upmarket neighbouring towns and villages it still retains something of a hard edge to it but that's never bothered me as I like character in a place and Prestonpans has plenty of that as well as many fine historic buildings.

The 15th century Preston Tower and Mercat Cross. This small round windowless cell was the town jail for many years. Space to walk around not an option so a good deterrent to behave. Period gardens surround this tower house and many other old buildings are scattered across this small town from every period giving visitors enough to look at on a day visit.

In recent years wild flower borders have appeared, aided by the extra hours of sunshine the East Coast has always enjoyed as it has half the rainfall of the west. As you can see from this sign Prestonpans is also well known as one of Scotland's first mural towns. I don't know the exact number as they are always adding new ones but it is a lot. This is just a small fraction I've included here.

Let's start with the John Muir tribute mural down by the seafront. He's enjoying a pint of local ale with the Gothenburg Public House and totem pole in the background. Obviously he was in America by this age.

And this is it here- just The Goth to locals. Built in the early 1900s and fabulously decorated inside with elaborately painted ceilings and walls it's well worth a visit. Prestonpans Mural Trail and Arts and Craft info in the pub.
I didn't realise quite how unique this pub chain was until, in the comments section, Russell pointed me in the direction of this link. Thanks R.C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg_Public_House_System

And directly across the road in the car park stands this oddity. The Prestoungrange/pans Totem Pole. A real one- from British Columbia.

Hope you can read this here. If not... in 2006 a 32 foot high pole was cut and carved with the assistance of Native American Cowichan individuals with the help of local artists and children, kick starting a Scottish arts and crafts, tapestry and mural splurge in the town that continues to this day.

It's also not too shabby in the late summer/autumn wild flower department.

When I visited here for the first time over a decade ago an excellent series of murals had been created along the sea wall but winter storms have washed them all away save this example. Most of the murals in town celebrate Prestonpans rich heritage. With a thousand year old pedigree it's one of the oldest areas in the UK to have used coal to heat houses- traced right back into prehistory long before the industrial age made 'black gold'  and coal mines popular. Even on beach walks in this district raw coal seams are visible on the surface strata running out to sea.

Dairy mural in the high street. A burn used to flow past here, now long buried underground.

A sea salt mural and soap production.
They also made bricks and earthenware pottery going by the examples on the totem pole. Totem Poles are all around us in modern day Britain. They advertise all the shops at the entrance to most retail parks.

This brown teapot was once a well known product of the area.

World mural off the high street. Prestonpans is twinned with Barga in Italy, hence the golden boot in this image.
A link to why its twinned with Barga here, The Vancouver island connection and other interesting local info.
 http://www.prestoungrange.org/arts-festival/html/murals/murals.html

Near the seafront wall, in an old sandstone locked shelter, one of the most elaborate and probably often overlooked murals is found. The Robert Burns panels celebrating the poets life, stories and songs. You have to peer though the bars to see the images properly but that definitely adds to the atmosphere. Although Burns was Ayrshire through and through he did live in and visit Edinburgh when he was alive and his poems of witches, hobgoblins and strange characters would chime deeply here alright.

One thing you notice travelling around this east coast area- Edinburgh and Lothian- is its very dark past. Almost every village and town has its own tale of hunting and killing witches- mostly innocent women and children that for one reason or another were tortured- named several others- who were also then tortured ruthlessly, burned and twisted  to root out the devil and evil lurking within community's. This happened all across Scotland and Europe during the 16th, 17th and early 18th century, killing thousands of mainly women and children in Scotland alone- millions Europe wide in a great purge. It eventually died out but for some reason it lasted longest here, even after it was discredited in most other places.

The nearby town of North Berwick in the late 1500s.  200 women eventually suspected of witchcraft starting with the obvious weakest link in the chain, a young servant girl tortured and maimed to reveal her secrets. I've read more than a few of these accounts now and to modern eyes it seems less like magic and casting spells and more like a group of evil people bending the local population's tribal instincts to further their own ends, something that continues to the present day around the world in even the most civilized countries. Sometimes the victims only crime was to be outspoken, criticizing the rules of the day, the church, or the ruling classes.. or to be a loner with a black cat or peculiar reclusive habits... or to fall out with a neighbour over a trivial matter... or come from a different village into a new area... or just be unpopular... or get sexually abused by someone higher up the pecking order then conveniently silenced.... take your pick from one hundred different excuses.

And I found myself thinking... why this area rather than the remote and gloomy Highlands? This is after all the sunshine coast, wide skies, huge horizons- full of rich soils, large prosperous farms, productive fields, huge estates, castles and mine owners in an age when the land provided the most wealth in the country. Even today it looks a mainly upmarket region so you would think it would be more enlightened here than the savage north with its warring feudal clan system but apparently not. Maybe they had more to loose here with discontent so kept a tighter noose around the neck of the peasant classes... or manipulated them ruthlessly. At that time miners were close to slaves, destined to a life down the pits with no free will at all and sold to whoever bought the land as just essential tools required to make a profit, whether it be farming, mining or making products- each village tied to a landowner.

 The witch trial. Prestonpans.
According to the local info Prestonpans had its own trial of 81 witches who joined the long procession of others who were tortured, strangled and burned to death along with their cats and sometimes their children on this surprisingly savage coastline. Mostly women. Prestonpans apparently, for its modest size, was particularly good at finding witches and Satan in its midst- better than towns many times larger. Most of these unlucky souls were dragged off to Edinburgh to die within sight of the famous castle with crowds of spectators applauding  A bit like X Factor or various Celebrity Punishment type programmes today. Popular entertainment for the time. All sanctioned by Mary Queen of Scots who apparently signed the Scottish Witchcraft Act in the mid 1500s so no tears should be sniffed over her fate. No wonder it was called the forgotten holocaust. The Forgotten War. And a purge against women in the main. Makes you wonder why? Are they so evil, these creatures of the night? Remember the lesson of the apple after all... Since Lilith first walked the earth no war has lasted longer than the Battle of the Sexes.

A row of miners cottages typical of the period. Summerlee is still a district in modern Prestonpans. It's a popular name as it's also a former steelworks and industrial museum in Coatbridge near Glasgow.

The children of Summerlee. Spot any witches here yet? Even young children and babies can harbour the devil in them.

A tram approaching. It struck me that even today it is very easy for those in power to sway the masses through propaganda and deliberate untruths. History has taught us not a lot and it could be argued that social media and 'smart' technology has made us more stupid than ever. Increasingly self obsessed, an entire world chasing a dubious type of fame, and dis-connected. Easier to sway than ever with a populist message. Souls bought with a handful of trinkets. Think the equivalent of the Witchcraft Trials couldn't happen today? Look around- it's in full swing.

If I put a video on here I usually try and match it with the subject of the post. This is a perfect fit. I first heard this ahead of its time song many years ago and thought of it now as the words are so remarkable and well chosen. This popular Irish folk singer is still on the go, appearing in Glasgow and Edinburgh this winter and he should know the truth of the matter far better than me with his background and worldwide contacts. Picked this particular version as the lyrics are on it written down in full and well worth a look. An important song about a period that's been too long glossed over as its only very recently several memorials and pardons have been issued. Better late than never I suppose.




PS.... Enjoyed the recent series just ended called Back in Time for the Factory- about a group of South Wales workers in a recreated garment factory during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. All the Back In Time series like Back in Time for Dinner and Back in Time for the Weekend have been fascinating slices of recent social history, revealing many of the things folk of my age lived through but didn't necessarily connect- like the invention of fridge freezers and supermarkets allowing ordinary housewives the freedom to go out to work for the first time. Doh! I always wondered why I suddenly became a latchkey kid at 14 and came home every night to an empty house and a hungry dog.