A disused edifice situated in the private grounds of Seton Castle, about
two miles east from Prestonpans Railway Station. The parish of Seton
having been joined to that of Tranent in 1580, service in the church has
from that time been abandoned.
There was a church here from an early date. It is rated in the ancient
Taxatio at 18 merks. In a MS. pedigree of the family of Seton, by
Maitland of Lethington, quoted by Grose,[105] it is stated that Sir
Alex. Seton, in the time of David II., was buried in the Parish Church
of Seton. Also that Katherine Sinclair, wife of William, first Lord
Seton, about 1390, “Biggit ane yle on the south side of the Paroch Kirk
of Seton of fine estlar, pendit and theikit it with stane, with ane
sepulchar thairin quhair she lies.” Her son John (died 1441) was buried
in this aisle.
George, the second Lord Seton, in 1493, made the church collegiate. He
built the sacristy and covered it with stone in the reign of James IV.
He died in 1507, and was buried near the high altar.
George, the third Lord Seton, who was slain at Flodden, “Theickit the
Queir of Seton with stane.” Jane Hepburne, his widow, after his decease,
“Biggit the forewark of Seton above the zit, and also she biggit the
northomoss yll of the College Kirk of Seton and took down the yll biggit
be Dame Katherine Sinclair on the south side of it, the said college
kirk, because the syde of it stood to the syde of the kirk, to mack it a
parfecte and a proper cornet and a cross kirk and biggit up the steeple
as ye see it now to ane grit hight swa that it wants little of
compleiting.” This lady also presented the church with many ornaments of
silver and rich vestments.
From the above quotations it would appear that the parish church existed
in the fourteenth century. This church was probably rebuilt towards the
end of the fifteenth century, and was added to by the second Lord Seton
when he made the church collegiate in 1493, and completed by the third
Lord Seton. The transepts and tower and spire would appear to have been
erected by the Dowager Lady Seton in the sixteenth century, after her
husband’s death at the Battle of Flodden.
The collegiate foundation consisted of a provost, six prebendaries, one
clerk, and two singing boys. The edifice has undoubtedly been rebuilt or
restored at the date of its being made collegiate. It corresponds in
style with the numerous collegiate foundations established in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The eastern apsidal termination, the
stone roof supported on a pointed barrel vault, and other details point
to its date and associate it with the other collegiate churches of
Scotland erected in the fifteenth century.
In 1544 the structure suffered much at the hands of the English
invaders, who carried off the organ and bells, and burnt the timber
work.
[Illustration: FIG. 1144.--Seton Collegiate Church. Plan.]
The stone roof of the choir was removed at some period. The masonry,
however, survived, and the edifice has now been roofed in and properly
defended from the weather by the late Lord Wemyss, who, along with his
Countess, is buried in the choir. The broken tracery of the windows has
been renewed by the present Lord Wemyss. The church was designed
[Illustration: FIG. 1145.--Seton Collegiate Church. View from
South-East.]
as a complete cross without aisles, and with a central tower and spire
over the intersection, but the nave has never been built. The portions
erected (Fig. 1144) consist of the choir (with its three-sided apsidal
east end), a north sacristy, a north and south transept, and a central
tower and spire over the crossing. The choir is 53 feet in length by 22
feet in width internally. The exterior (Fig. 1145) is divided into three
bays, separated by buttresses. There is a round-headed doorway in the
central bay of the south wall, with a panel containing a coat of arms in
the upper part of the wall, and mullioned windows in the other bays
(including the apse), except that in the north wall at the part where
the sacristy is built. The arched heads are all filled with tracery of a
simple character and of
[Illustration: FIG. 1146.--Seton Collegiate Church. Corbels on
Buttresses.]
a pattern common in third pointed work. The buttresses are of good
substantial form, and each is crowned with a square, but rather stunted,
pinnacle, the enriched pyramidal tops of nearly all of them being
wanting. A carved corbel and canopy are placed on the face of each
buttress to receive a statue, but they are now all empty. Fig. 1146
shows two of these corbels, one containing the Seton arms. The cornice
of the choir is enriched with flower ornaments.
The interior of the choir (Fig. 1147) is extremely simple. It is roofed
with a pointed barrel vault, the surface of which, towards the east end,
is ornamented with moulded ribs. These ribs spring from corbels in each
angle of the apse and in the side walls, and extend to nearly the
centre of the choir, where they cease, leaving the remainder of the
vault plain. The idea has apparently been, by the introduction of these
ribs, to make the presbytery somewhat ornamental. The windows, being
below the
[Illustration: FIG. 1147.--Seton Collegiate Church. Choir, looking
East.]
springing of the vault, are necessarily low, and the vault is in
consequence dark. There are a plain sedilia, with elliptic arch, and an
ornate piscina (Fig. 1148) at the east end of the south wall. Opposite
them in the north wall a monument (Fig. 1149) under the north-east
window contains, in an arched recess, an effigy, probably that of the
second Lord Seton, who erected the church into a college. The choir is
now roofed with wood and slates above the vault, but it was no doubt
originally
[Illustration: FIG. 1148.
Seton Collegiate Church.