History - Marking The Battle of Prestonpans Photos by The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust
Marking the Battle of Prestonpans
by Scott Aitken
I
t was a battle that gave hope to a doomed cause, inspired one of the best known songs of the Jacobite era and has featured in countless books, films and television shows, including Outlander. As dawn broke on 21 September 1745 some 2,000 sword wielding
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Jacobites emerged out of the early morning mist and charged the confused ranks of Hanoverian troops camped near Prestonpans. The British forces had been sent north to quell the rebellion that had begun just a month before when Prince Charles Edward Stuart had landed in Scotland and raised his banner at Glenfinnan on 19 August.
Initially Bonnie Prince Charlie’s announcement to reclaim the throne for his father, the deposed King James, wasn’t taken very seriously as the British establishment failed to recognise the extent of the threat. Sir John Cope, then the government commander in Scotland, was tasked with putting down the rising and he marched
