Preston

   1) PRESTON, county of Berwick.

   See Bunkle and Preston.

   2) PRESTON, a hamlet, in the parish of Cranston, county of Edinburgh, 1 mile (E. N. E.) from the village of Cranston; containing 35 inhabitants. It is situated in the eastern quarter of the parish; and near it is Preston Hall, the splendid mansion of Mr. Callender.

   3) PRESTON, a village, in the parish of Prestonpans, county of Haddington, 1½ mile (N. W. by W.) from Tranent; containing 57 inhabitants. This place, now a small and decayed, was formerly a considerable, village, and had a noted fair in October, called St. Jerome's fair. The barony was long the property of the Hamilton family, and there is the ruin of a tower in which they resided, and which was accidentally burnt in 1633. Preston now consists of a few mean houses and some old mansions; but its situation is pleasantly rural and retired. In the vicinity is an hospital founded by Dr. James Schaw, in 1784, for the maintenance and education of twenty-four boys, with preference to those of the names of Schaw, Macniell, Cunningham, and Stewart: the present building, which is very commodious, was erected in 1831, near the site of the old mansion of Preston House, that stood behind it, and had been previously used as the hospital. At the end of the village is the ancient cross.