Lion Couchant.

Since I had a beekeeping meeting this evening I had to be home from my Wednesday cycle ride early. That seems to be happening far too often these days. I opted to go out by myself and visit some known blip sites - and a very pleasant few hours it was too.

The blip is a detail on the monument to Colonel Gardiner is near Bankton House, his home in Prestonpans, adjacent to the site of the Battle of ☺Prestonpans at which he died. He was a mercenary (as befits a devoutly religious man) fighting for the English under Johnnie Cope (disgraceful behaviour for a Scot, it’s enough to make you vote “YES” in the independence referendum). When the men under his command deserted, he rallied a group of infantry men and made a suicidal last stand. Having been disabled by a musket ball, he was then wounded by a blow from a Highlander wielding a “Lochaber axe,” a vicious weapon that not only carried an axe type blade, but also had a point for thrusting and a hook for dismounting cavalrymen.

He was carried to the nearby Trannent manse where he died a few hours later.

The Jacobites took over his house and used it as a hospital to treat the wounded from both armies.