Preston Mercat Cross

The bus that conveyed us to North Berwick took an interesting route, whereon we discovered places of interest that required further investigation.

One such was the Mercat Cross in Preston, the only surviving example of a market cross of its type on its original site. Constructed shortly after Preston was granted the privilege of holding a weekly market and an annual fair - St Jerome's Fair - the cross became the focus of  town life, from proclamations read out from the upper platform, to the prison in the lower chamber. Now Category A listed, the cross is under the care of Historic Scotland.

On this glorious autumn day, we also visited nearby C14 Preston Tower (just seen to the left of the cross) and discovered the C17 Hamilton House, under the care of National Trust for Scotland.