Mural monument at Prestonpans

Prestonpans Art Festival

Just when we truly felt we were using Murals as a 'new' artistic idiom at Prestonpans, what do we discover? The 8th Baron of Prestoungrange, and Lord Advocate of Scotland from 1746-1754, is commemorated with a mural. He was subsequently also Lord of Sessions as well. This imposing mural monument was erected to the memory of William Grant, Lord Prestongrange. It is on a gable (of the Hamilton Loft) of Prestongrange Parish Church, which was established in 1595 by the Rev John Davidson when banished to the town by the King. The large classical monument stands on a plinth between two windows. The monument's exposed position has not helped preserve the inscription, which is eroded. Fortunately, the text was duplicated inside where the organ loft stands but which was once the Laird's Loft which held the Grant family's pew. It appears below in the original Latin as well as English. At the Reformation the newly formed Church of Scotland abolished in the 17th Century the practice of burial within churches. However, over the course of time, the graves of the well-to-do, gentry, aristocrats and ministers tended to predominate close to the walls of the church or even within vaults and chapels built on to the exterior of the building.

So from henceforth our Murals by Kate Hunter must be Nos. 2 and 3 not 1 and 2.

Prestoungrange Church - Visitors Guide
Prestoungrange Church the first 400 years 1594-1994 - Book

Guliemo Grant, De, Prestongrange, Marito, Parenti, Civi, Fideli, pio, egrigio, Advocato Regio, Diserto humano, Utriusque Curiae Supremae Judici, Probo, integro; In variis vitae muneribus, Fama aequabili et inviolata; Vidua filiaeque orbatae Hoc Marmor Maerentes, extruendum curarunt Vixit annos 63. Obiit A.H.S. 1764. Juxta eum sita est vidua ejus supra posita faemina in primis spectabilis, Grishilda Millar, Quae, anno 1792, fato concefsit Annos 83 nata Hic quosque conditae sunt reliquiae Christinae Grant filiae eorundem natu minimae, quae, anno 1761, diem supremun obiit, 18 annos habens; et itidem suae neptis, Joanettae Suttie, quae, anno 1767, vita excefsit quinquennis.

To William Grant, Of, Prestoungrange, Husband, Father, Citizen, Faithful, pious, honourable, Advocate to the King, Eloquent learned, Judge of both sides of the Supreme Court, Upright, blameless; In the diverse offices of life, Of impartial reputation and incorruptable; His widow and orphaned children This marble Mourning, provided for the erection of. He lived 63 years. He died in 1764 A.H.S. Beside him is placed his widow above mentioned, a woman of prime respectability, Griselde Millar Who in the year 1792 was carried off by God's will 83 years old Here also are buried the remains of Christine Grant their youngest daughter, who in the year 1761, met her final day, being 18 years old; and likewise their granddaughter Joanette Suttie, who, in the years 1767, departed this life at 5 years old.