Preston Tower seen from the garden, with its corner wing and external staircase

EAST LOTHIAN · PRESTONPANS

Preston Tower

A Renaissance home on a medieval tower. War, fire and a new chapter of conservation.

CASTLESCOTLAND

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PLAN YOUR VISIT

Tickets, opening hours & parking

Public garden · interior on open days

Preston Tower, Cross Cottages, Prestonpans, East Lothian

TICKETSGarden: free

Free public garden. Past open days offered free timed tickets, but check the organiser’s conditions for your chosen event.

OPENING & ACCESSGarden: dawn to dusk

Gardens are reported open daily from dawn to dusk; follow local signs. Tower and doocot interiors open on selected days organised by Friends of Preston Tower.

PARKING & ARRIVALPrestonpans Community Centre

Parking information

Parking charge not confirmed

No tower car park. Local guidance points to Prestonpans Community Centre or legal street spaces. The adjacent housing car park is private.

Google MapsApple Maps
Partly confirmed

Parking sources checked · 11 October 2026

Suggest a parking update
ACCESSIBILITYGarden paths · stairs to the hall

Improved paths run through the garden. The first-floor hall requires stairs. The ground floor retains a threshold step and uneven surfaces despite a ramp.

HONEST VERDICTIs it worth visiting?

A short stop for architecture, the garden and the doocot. Check open-day announcements if you want to enter the tower.

MANAGED BYNational Trust for Scotland / East Lothian Council

WHAT TO EXPECT

  • Walled garden
  • Historic doocot
  • Interpretation boards

01 / THE STORY

Preston Tower: history and highlights

Preston Tower has an unusual silhouette: a medieval defensive tower topped by a much more elegant Renaissance addition. Standing in a walled garden in Prestonpans, it tells the story of a family home repeatedly caught up in war — and of changing ideas about comfort and status.

A home built to defend

The tower dates from the 15th century and is associated with the Hamiltons of Preston. The interpretation boards place its construction in the 1460s and name Sir Robert Hamilton as its builder. Its entrance was reached by an external timber stair, leading directly to the first-floor hall. Above were bedrooms; below, storage chambers. A basement room in the wing could only be entered through a trapdoor, making it a secure dungeon.

A house on top of a tower

Around the 1620s, Sir John Hamilton added two storeys. Their larger, more decorative windows mark the transition from a fortified household to more fashionable accommodation. Look up and the contrast is still clear: heavy medieval masonry below, an elegant addition above. The display boards reconstruct several stages of the building's development, but these are archaeological interpretations, not surviving portraits of the house.

02 / VISUAL JOURNAL

A closer look
at the castle.

Every photograph on this page was taken by CastleScotland during visits to the site.

10 of 11 photographs

Complete photo list

01 / THE STORY CONTINUES

More stories from this castle.

War, fire and abandonment

English forces burned the tower in 1544 during the Rough Wooing. In 1650, Cromwell's troops burned it again after the Battle of Dunbar. It was repaired, but some accounts describe a further, accidental fire in 1663. The exact date when the Hamiltons finally abandoned the tower remains uncertain.

More than a tower

The garden also contains a historic doocot, or dovecote, with almost 1,000 nesting boxes. Visit East Lothian records that Walter Scott played here as a child. More recently, repairs and a new external stair have helped reopen the site; the conservation project received a RIAS architecture award in 2026.

For a visit, distinguish the public garden from the tower interior: indoor access is organised through occasional open days rather than a daily museum timetable. Check Friends of Preston Tower before travelling specifically to go inside.

Sources & further reading

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