Battle of Prestonpans - The Battle in Art and Legend

The Battle in Art and Legend

Subsequent public perception of the battle in general and General Cope in particular has been influenced by Adam Skirving's popular songs. Skirving was a local farmer who did not see the battle itself, but visited the battlefield later that afternoon where he was, by his own account, mugged by the victors. Skirving wrote two songs, "Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?", and "Tranent Muir"; the former is quite well known, and is a short, catchy, and mostly historically inaccurate insult to Cope. While Cope's troops fled the battle, he himself did not; nor is it true that he slept the night before. Poet Robert Burns later wrote his own words to the song, but these are not as well known as Skirving's.

Tranent Muir, on the other hand, is a long and graphically violent description of the battle, and some of the events depicted are historically accurate. Myrie and Gardiner, mentioned in verses seven and eight, did in fact die in the battle. Lieutenant Smith, described in verse nine as fleeing the battle in dread, challenged Skirving to a duel after the song was published.

Sir Walter Scott gave the battle a prominent place in Waverley. Scott's rendition culminates in the last stand of Gardiner, whose death the titular hero and Jacobite volunteer, Edward Waverley, unsuccessfully tries to prevent.

A heritage trust, described below, was established in 2006 and is most particularly concerned to capture, present and develop all these artistic dimensions. New poetry, theatre, paintings and songs have been commissioned.