At the end of World War One, the majority of villages, towns and cities across the country sought a fitting way to commemorate the sacrifice of those men and women from their communities that had lost their lives during or as a direct consequence of the 1914-18 conflict. Prestonpans Town Council chose a design by internationally renowned Scottish sculptor William Birnie Rhind to honour their fallen.

The 7ft tall sandstone statue of a soldier, wearing the uniform of the local 8th Battalion Royal Scots Regiment, on top of his 9ft high commemorative pedestal was unveiled at the foot of Ayre’s Wynd in front of a huge crowd on the 30th April 1922. The names of 143 local casualties were carved in alphabetical order on three sides of the pedestal. After war had sadly war engulfed the world once again, between 1939 and 1945, the sacrifice of a further 40 local men would come to be commemorated on the sloping tablet placed at the foot of the memorial.

In 1962, to accommodate widening and modernisation of the High Street, the war memorial was shifted back a few metres from its original site adjacent to the road to its current position inside the hollowed out shell of a historic shorefront building. It was restored in 2017-2018 by Prestonpans Community Council and East Lothian Council with the assistance of the War Memorial Trust.

Pause now for a moment and read some of the names carved upon it and reflect for a moment upon the lives of these young men who once wandered through the very streets that you have just walked and who once witnessed many of the buildings and sights that you have just seen.