The Prestonpans Tapestry

With all the deserved attention being given to the magnificent Great Tapestry of Scotland, currently on display at the Scottish Parliament building, there is a danger that another great tapestry might be overlooked.

This is the Prestonpans Tapestry, a 104-metre long series of panels depicting the run up to the Battle of Prestonpans in September 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie soundly defeated the English forces in his bid to claim the throne of Scotland. Like the Bayeux Tapestry, it tells the specific story in chronological order, rather than giving a general overview of the country as a whole.

The tapestry is on show in St John's Kirk in Perth, so a friend and I went to have a look at it today as it's only there for a few more days. We were most impressed with the detail and the stitching and learned a lot about our history that we hadn't already known! There's an excellent website, here if anyone is interested, where you can see the whole tapestry and read more about how it came into being.

It was such a warm and pleasant day, that we were able to have lunch sitting outside in a nearby café, which is quite a rare occurrence up here! The sunshine is set to last a few more days, so hope you'll all enjoy it too.