Preston Market Cross

Beside Preston Road, half a mile south of Prestonpans, stands the market cross of 1617 that was once the focus of the busy little town of Preston, or Salt Preston. HES describes it as the only monument of its type still standing on its original site. At ground level is a drum of masonry about 4 m wide with eight carved panels, two of them doorways. Inside is a dark, dome-vaulted chamber that served as the town's gaol, and a narrow stair rises to the upper platform, from which proclamations were read out to the townsfolk. Above the platform a 6 m shaft carries a unicorn, crowned at the throat, holding a cartouche carved with the lion rampant. As the industrial town of Prestonpans grew, Preston declined, and by 1839 the parish minister called the cross a monument of departed greatness, though he noted a little merrymaking around it every July. The cross stands at the roadside, a few minutes' walk from Prestonpans station.