Battle of Prestonpans 1745
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 September 1745 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1745 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Scotland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Jacobite risings | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Jacobitism, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 55.9550, -2.9597 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | HES Inventory BTL16 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 1111.3 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Prestonpans, 21 September 1745, took place near Prestonpans, in East Lothian. It was the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Jacobite forces, led by the exiled Charles Edward Stuart and George Murray, defeated a British government army under Sir John Cope, whose inexperienced troops broke in the face of a Highland charge. The battle lasted less than thirty minutes, was a huge boost to Jacobite morale, and established the revolt as a serious threat.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Prestonpans (revision 1370586631), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary: contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Pinkie 1547 · 5 km
- Siege of Haddington 1548 · 11 km
- Siege of Leith 1560 · 13 km
- Battle of Boroughmuir 1335 · 14 km
- Cleanse the Causeway 1520 · 14 km
- Battle of Roslin 1303 · 17 km
Other battles of the Jacobite risings
- Battle of Dunkeld 1689
- Battle of Killiecrankie 1689
- Battle of Cromdale 1690
- Battle of Culloden 1746
- Battle of Falkirk Muir 1746
All 6 battles of the Jacobite risings →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Early modern battles