Seton Collegiate Church
| Seton Collegiate Church | |
|
East Lothian | |
|---|---|
 Seton Collegiate Church | |
| Type: | Deconsecrated church |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NT41827511 |
| Location: | 55°57’56"N, 2°56’1"W |
| History | |
| Built c 1478 | |
| Deconsecrated church | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Part-dismantled |
| Owned by: | Historic Scotland |
| Website: | Seton Collegiate Church |
Seton Collegiate Church, known locally as 'Seton Chapel', is a former collegiate church standing just south of Port Seton in East Lothian. It is adjacent to Seton House.
The church consists of the complete eastern limb and the two transepts of a cruciform church, the crossing-tower as high as it was built (the completion of the spire was precluded by the Reformation), and the dubious foundations of the nave, which was not built.
Contained within are two effigies: one male and one female, dating from the fifteenth century. The female effigy, badly defaced, is possibly of earlier origin.
To the immediate south west are the foundations of the buildings once occupied by the clergy and staff.
History
Seton Church was built by George, 2nd Lord Seton in the fifteenth century: the choir and chancel at least were standing by 1478, and it was roofed by 1508. Transepts were added at some point between 1513 and 1588.
Lord Seton obtained a licence from the Pope to raise the church to collegiate status in 1492, and at its height in about 1540 it had a college of priests comprising a provost, eight canons, two choristers and a clerk, all employed to pray for the souls of the Seton family. The founder, the 2nd Lord Seton, was buried in the new choir in 1508. The 3rd Lord Seton was slain at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, and his widow, Lady Janet Seton, continued the work on the church, building a north transept and the tower, the spire of which was never completed beyond a stump. She also repaired the church after it was damaged in 1544 during the War of the Rough Wooing.
In 1560, two years after Janet Seton’s death, the Reformation swept across Scotland and the religious community of Seton was dissolved. The church became a parish kirk for twenty years until in 1580 the parish of Seton was joined with that of Tranent, and the church reverted to being a private chapel of the Seton family.
Further damage was caused by the Wars of the Covenant in the mid 1600s, and in 1715 by the Lothian Militia (as the Setons has expressed support for the Jacobites) and so the church fell into disuse.
The church passed it into state care in 1946 and is now in the care of Historic Scotland, and opened as a Historic Tourist Attraction.
Photo gallery
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Collegiate Church Seton Collegiate Church) |
- Seton Collegiate Church - Historic Scotland
- Seton Collegiate Church: Undiscovered Scotland