covered with a roof of overlapping stone slabs. The door to the sacristy
is opposite that in the south wall. The sacristy is about 14 feet by 12
feet. It has a plain barrel vault, which supports an upper story, of
which the window is visible (Fig. 1150), but there is no apparent means
of access to it. The building has a roof of overlapping stone flags. The
sacristy has one small eastern window, with a piscina near it, and a
fireplace. In the angle next the apse there is a squint commanding a
view of the altar.
The tower is 25 feet square. On the ground level there are arched
openings 9 feet 6 inches wide (Fig. 1151) towards the choir and each
transept, and also in the west wall towards the intended nave, the
latter being built up. The stair turret is placed at the south-east
angle, and partly projects into the south transept (Fig. 1152). It is
also visible on the exterior (see Fig. 1145). The tower is carried up
over the crossing one story in height above the roof, and is crowned
with a broach-spire, the top of which is unfinished. This is one of the
very few examples of broach-spires in Scotland. The ground floor over
the crossing is groin vaulted, and has a circular opening in the centre.
The transepts are each about 27 feet long by 18 feet wide, and each is
divided into two bays, with buttresses, pinnacles, and traceried
windows, similar to those of the choir. These traceries were all much
damaged, but they have been repaired by Lord Wemyss. The vaulting (see
Figs.
[Illustration: FIG. 1149.--Seton Collegiate Church. Monument under
North-East Window.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1150.--Seton Collegiate Church. View from
North-East.]
1151 and 1152) is of the pointed barrel kind, similar to that of the
choir, but without ribs, and supports a roof composed of overlapping
stone flags
[Illustration: FIG. 1151.--Seton Collegiate Church. Transept, looking
South.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1152.--Seton Collegiate Church. View from South
Transept, looking North.]
(see Figs. 1145 and 1150). The north and south end windows of the
transepts (Fig. 1153) are peculiar. They are of considerable size, and
[Illustration: FIG. 1153.--Seton Collegiate Church. Transept, from
South.]
each is divided into two compartments by a large stone mullion built in
courses, each compartment being filled with smaller tracery. Several
examples of this mode of treating large windows about this period may
be mentioned, such as King’s College, Aberdeen; Haddington Church, &c.
There is an arched recess under the two large end windows of the north
and south transepts (see Figs. 1151 and 1152), which perhaps at one time
contained monuments. A piscina occurs in the east wall of the south
transept (Fig. 1154), and another, supported on three heads, on the
north-west pier of the tower. Other monuments in the Renaissance
[Illustration: FIG. 1154.--Seton Collegiate Church. Piscina in South
Transept.]
style have been erected against the east walls of the transepts (see
Fig. 1151). An octagonal font (Fig. 1155), carved with shields bearing
the Seton and other arms, is placed in a temporary manner in the
crossing.
From the history of the structure it would appear, as above mentioned,
that the transept and tower were erected by Jane Hepburne (Lady Seton)
in the sixteenth century. The style of the transept is
[Illustration: FIG. 1155.--Seton Collegiate Church. Font at Crossing.]
evidently later than that of the choir, but the details of the
buttresses have been copied in the later part of the structure from
those of the earlier part.