'Preston' means 'Priest-Toun' and is a reference to the estates belonging to the monks of Newbattle and Holyrood Abbeys. Prestonpans once comprised three villages: Preston, Prestonpans, and Prestongrange. Today, Prestonpans has effectively taken over, though the parish is still called Prestongrange, and much of the history of the area relates to Preston. 'Pans' is a reference to the salt pans buit on the seashore by the monks to manufacture salt. Indeed, for a long time the town's ecclesiastical name was 'Salt Preston'.
There are a number of surprising historic architectural examples in Prestonpans, and this cache will show you some of them. Preston Tower was the home of the Hamiltons of Preston. The gardens of this 15th century tower house and doocot have been restored with elements of 17th & 18th century Scottish Gardens. The tower caught fire in 1663 and the family moved to nearby Preston House and Hamilton House.
Prestonpan's Mercat Cross dates back to 1617 and is the only one of its kind in Scotland which remains in its original form and location.
Mercat Cross
How many drainage spouts (including closed 'spouts') are there = A?
How many barrels on the mercat cross in the picture =B?
How many alcoves are there = C?
According to the picture, the unicorn is holding an object (beginning with C). How many letters are in this word = D?
Preston Tower
N55 57.342 W002 58.677
On the East side how many barred windows are there = E?
On the West side, how many barred windows are there = F?
The cache can be found at:
N55 57.E(D-C)D
W002 58.B(A-B)(B+F)
The cache itself is a clear plastic phial 5cm in length, 2cm diameter.