Bagging Scotland

If you’ve visited Prestonpans, just outside Edinburgh, you’d probably agree with us that it’s a fairly unremarkable place. However, if a high-profile Scottish Author has his way, it’s set to be home to the World’s longest tapestry.

Even the most casual of Scots know a wee bit about ‘The 45′ and could tell you a tale of Culloden, the last battle fought on the UK mainland. However, what of Prestonpans?

A page from the 1995 re-enactment programme

Prestonpans was the positive, upbeat side of the Jacobite rebellion, the battle where everything went RIGHT. As those White Cockade followers headed Southwards, this was the spot when Bonnie Prince Charlie sensed that victory could be on the cards and the spot where the Hanoverians began to get more than slightly concerned!

What better spot then to build a museum to display a tapestry of the event? And not just ANY tapestry, how about the LONGEST tapestry in The World? The two excellent BBC video links below tell you more about this remarkable item and Alexander McColl Smith’s wish to build a museum to house it, albeit in this (at the moment) rather unremarkable place.

Prestonpans doesn’t have the West Highland mystique of Glenfinnan or the sense of foreboding that hangs over Culloden but we’d love to see this fantastic idea come to fruition. It’s time to bring a bit of the amazing atmosphere that surrounds the whole Jacobite tale, to the South East coast of Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12464254

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-10764176