Commissioned by the Battle of Prestonpans Heritage Trust in East Lothian a year ago and designed by local artist Andrew Crummy, the tapestry tells the story of the battle on September 21, 1745 in which Jacobite rebels recorded a resounding victory against the Hanovarian Redcoats.
Originally the tapestry was to be made up of 79 metre-long panels depicting the journey of Bonnie Prince Charlie from France to Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides and through the Highlands as he gathered supporters.
Crummy said: “Gordon [Dr Gordon Prestoungrange, the trust’s chairman] wanted it to be one metre longer than the Bayeux tapestry, but as I was drawing the panels and designing, the complexity of the story meant it grew to 104. Meeting the communities did [affect it] as well because Dunblane wanted to do a panel and Blair Atholl wanted to do one, so it kept growing.”
The tapestry -- 34m larger than the Bayeux -- will be unveiled in Prestonpans tomorrow before touring the country following the route the Jacobites took in 1745.
Having designed the tapestry, Crummy and Prestoungrange then had the challenge of finding people to sew it to complete the project.
Andrew said: “We went up and stayed in Arisaig for a week and just went knocking on people’s doors. We went up to someone’s house and knocked on the door and said, ‘We want to have this building in the Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry, would you like to stitch it?’ We just asked people.”
Prestoungrange added: “We simply said we were going to do it. They came one by one and then in a flood; we had so many volunteers we had reserves in the end. The project has captured the imagination just as Bonnie Prince Charlie did in 1745.
“We went to France because that was where it began and we got some people there to do some of the early panels and then people from America and Australia who had heard about it through relatives got in touch.”
Volunteer Shona McManus, from East Lothian, stitched one of the metre-long panels that shows Bonnie Prince Charlie arriving in Edinburgh.
She said: “I got involved because of my husband’s interest in history and the Jacobite cause. I was more or less coerced into taking part but I’m so glad I did because it has been such a rewarding experience.”
Many of the stitchers involved had never embroidered before and found the experience a steep learning curve.
Marietta Di Ciacca, also from East Lothian, said: “At the beginning it was relatively easy because we were just doing black outlines but when it came to colouring in I found it challenging.”
For Prestoungrange, the battle is a crucial part of the history of the East Lothian town, and since buying the title of the Baron of Prestoungrange 12 years ago, he has encouraged interest in the area’s heritage.
He said: “We did the tapestry to use the arts to help tell the story of the Battle of Prestonpans which is one of the major parts of Prestonpans heritage.”
After touring Scotland, the Battle of Prestonpans Heritage Trust hope to create a permanent home for the tapestry at the site of the battle. For more details of the project, visit www.prestonpanstapestry.org
