Preston Tower and Gardens is in the heart of the town of Prestonpans in East Lothian. Designer Steve Kirkpatrick of Artibrand and I were appointed by a team of partners including the client East Lothian Council, lead architects GRAS, NTS and the community council to deliver community engagement activities and interpretation across the site.

Our involvement with the project began in 2021 and the initial process was to consult with partners and the local community to discover how they saw the future of the tower and gardens.

The eventual aim was to reinstate an access staircase to the first-floor main entrance and enable public access for the first time in over 40 years. In the lead-up to this, while statutory permissions and planning were being sought, the gardens, garden wall and a 17th-century doocot in the gardens were consolidated and repaired.

In September 2001, while indoor events were still limited by the COVID-19 Pandemic, we organised a ‘Doors Open Day’ weekend outside in the gardens. The event allowed us to attract a large local community turnout of all ages, to discuss ideas on developing the tower and gardens. The weekend was extremely successful in reaching new audiences and renewing interest in the local landmark.

Based on community feedback and the desires of the project partners, it was agreed a new path should connect to the Doocot through the garden to finish at a “contemplation area”. We created mood boards with possible images and ‘word cloud words’ to stimulate ideas from the public on what the contemplation area might look like. Feedback indicated the solutions should be ‘light touch’ and not dominate the space, allowing the hero, the tower, to shine.

Three interpretation boards were designed for the gardens. One provides an overview of the tower. The second shows three potential historical access staircases based on evidence from the tower and created by Bob Marshall. A third panel focuses on the garden and Doocot.

Throughout the project, we designed temporary interpretation about the project and ongoing works which were fixed to the site fencing and scaffold hoardings at different stages of work. This technique was also used to show interpretation designed for panels that were temporarily unavailable due to the works.

The doocot and gardens were completed in time for another Doors Open Day event in 2022 where members of the public could explore the new path and seating, heritage trail and two of the three new outdoor interpretation boards.

The contemplation area creates a space in the garden where locals and visitors could sit and reflect on the history of the tower and surrounding area, or simply have a conversation. The circle centre includes a bronze plaque and engraved stone compass, emphasising the strategic position of the tower in relation to the sea, the city of Edinburgh and the English border.

The Heritage Trail helps children to explore the garden as they find the posts, take rubbings and complete a quiz. The map and quiz sheet is available online for download or printed off at the nearby community centres. The eight individual illustrations relate to the history of the tower and gardens and historical industries around Prestonpans and incorporate braille lettering.

The access staircase was completed in summer 2024 allowing the first visitors into the first-floor area at the end of August. This was the first public access since the 1980s and the first access by the ‘main door’ since the early 18th century.

The inside of the tower was designed to be a flexible space.  Public opening is arranged by the volunteer Friends of Preston Tower and will evolve and adapt to the visitors and volunteers themselves. We created flexible, lightweight interpretation panels which can be moved around easily. They can also be turned around to show large images without text if the space is being used for a performance or event. We included bench seating for those who need it after climbing the staircase.

We worked with Studio Winton to create an audio-visual projection onto the wall with the main fireplace which tells the story of the life of the tower and recreates some of the interior decoration that has been lost. The projection lasts ten minutes and provides a sense of warmth and human life in the now-ruined space. It also includes costumed actors from the community and a period song by a local singer. 

In late 2020, as the UK emerged from the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was approached by Falkirk Community Trust to work with them on elements of their Falkirk Explored App as part of the ‘Great Places’ National Lottery scheme.

My brief was to provide professional heritage interpretation support for local community groups developing heritage walking trails and audio guides for the mobile app.

The first group comprised ten senior school students (history ambassadors) working together on one heritage trail. For this group I designed and delivered a workshop about heritage interpretation for digital audiences (audiences who use mobile phones). Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in schools, this was delivered via Zoom.

The second group were a local history society group of volunteers working together on a different heritage trail. For this group, I produced a workbook introducing the fundamentals of heritage interpretation for digital audiences. I then provided consultation via email on their planning and copy editing of their final text. Again, due to COVID19 restrictions, this work was all conducted remotely.

Each of the trails designed by the groups included the overall route, 12-18 stops, text, images and audio. The workshop for the school pupils and the workbook for the history society both covered all aspects of interpretation at an introductory level. This included storytelling, writing for specific audiences, narrative ‘voices’, different perspectives, creating engaging interpretation, using images and writing for digital format / the App audience.

The two walks produced (available on the Falkirk Explored App) are the ‘Denny and Dunipace Heritage Trail’ and ‘Rough Castle Trail’.

In the summer of 2021, I was asked to work directly on the interactive App walk ‘Canal Encounters’ as an interpretation copywriter. This walking trail about the history of the Forth and Clyde Canal included augmented reality elements and community-generated content from school engagement.  I was asked to undertake the development of eight stories for the trail, related to the history of the canal, by collating research material provided by the client. I produced each story in two formats: written copy for the app and an audio guide script.

In 2022 I was finally able to try the full experience out with my son. We cycled the ‘walk’ from the Falkirk Wheel to the Kelpies and back again. It was a really fun day out.