Archaeology Notes

Event ID 717101

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/717101

NT47NW 4.00 4182 7511

NT47NW 4.01 NT 4180 7505 Buildings

(NT 4182 7511) Seton Chapel (Burial Vault) (NAT)

formerly (NAT) Collegiate Church (NR)

OS 6" map, (1967)

The Object Name Book of the Ordnance Survey (ONB) describes the chapel thus: 'An old chaple situated near the N (sic) side of Seton House. It is of Gothic Architecture and still in a state of good preservation. "The old collegiate church of Seton is the finest monument of antiquity in the parish, and is an interesting specimen of Gothic Architecture, built in good taste". The date of the "oldest part is uncertain, but it must have been previous to the year 1390, for in the beginning of the reign of Robert III, Catherine Sinclair of Hermanston, the widow of Lord William Seton "beggit ane yle on the South syd of the parische Kirk of Seyton of fine Castle and founded one preist to serve their perpetuallie". Considerbale additions were subsequently made to this church by the Seton family, amny of whom expended large sums of money in decorating the mausoleum of their races. In 1544 the church was much destoryed by the English during the invasion of the Earl of Hertford. It afterwards suffered severely in succeeding revolutions (OSA 1841).

Name Book 1853

Seton Church, dedicated in the names of St Mary and the Holy Cross, is one of the finest surviving collegiate churches in Scotland (see RCAHMS 1924 plan and illustrations). The unaisled parish church of Seton (dedicated in 1242) is represented by the ruined aisle walls of the nave which continued at least as far as the E walls of the transepts. The foundations under the S transept belong to a chapel built in or after 1434 by Catherine St Clair, wife of the first Lord Seton. The choir and sacristy were largely the work of the third Lord (obit 1478); the fourth Lord vaulted the W part of the choir and founded a college in 1492, and the choir was roofed with stone slabs and furnished by the fifth Lord (obit 1513). His widow Lady Jane Seton added the N transept by 1541 and the S one in 1545. The nave disappeared later, probably after 1580 when the parish was joined with Tranent. The spire was evidently never finished.

By the mid-19th century, the building had ceased to be used as a church and was in use as a burial vault; the windows were unblocked and restored by the Earl of Wemyss in 1878. An extensive programme of excavation and consolidation has been carried out by the DoE since the building came under guardianship in 1948.

C McWilliam 1978; DoE guide 1965; RCAHMS 1924, visited 1923; I B Cowan and D E Easson 1976; S Cruden 1958; 1965; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1979 (Donations).

Seton Collegiate Church is in good condition.

Visited by OS(BS) 16 October 1975.

Before a new drainage system was installed around the church's exterior, five trenches were opened adjacent to the choir and transepts. As well as several disturbed graves, two reasonably intact burials were located, one of them aligned 180 degrees from the norm.

J H Lewis 1988.

NT 418 751 Archaeological monitoring was carried out in February 2004 during a programme of pipe trenching. The 120m of trenching revealed no features or finds of archaeological significance.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: HS.

D Stewart 2004