Prestonpans, 188-190 High Street

NT37SE 248 3848 7441

NT 384 744 An archaeological evaluation comprising an assessment of standing buildings and trial trenching was undertaken in December 2001, in advance of the demolition of existing buildings and the construction of flats and a car park. A long cist burial was found during building work immediately adjacent to the site in 1950.

A historic buildings survey of the surviving original elevations and floor plans were carried out prior to their demolition in advance of the refurbishment of the site as a retail store. The house, more recently known as the 'Manager's House', and its accompanying stable block were probably built in the early second quarter of the 19th century on what was then a vacant site. Both buildings are of 19th-century date, examples of Scots gothic/baronial style. Formal gardens were laid out to the front and rear. To the rear the gardens sloped down to a boundary wall, still extant at the time of the survey.

In the early 20th century the Prestonpans Co-operative Society acquired the house and its grounds, and during its conversion to a shop the original house facade was subsumed into the new shop front and a bakery built to the rear. Further modification and landscaping occurred in the 1960s, and the resultant ground levels recorded in the survey elevations represent a culmination of these activities.

Particular areas of original architectural detail seen in both the main house and the stable block were recorded in detail and the latter-day configuration and use of the building was appraised.

Trial trenching did not identify any archaeologically significant deposits, but demonstrated that the area to the rear of the site had been built up in the mid-20th century and that there was still potential for deposits to survive undisturbed.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Scottish Midland Co-operative Society.

R Conolly 2002