Seton Palace

Seton Palace was situated in East Lothian, a few miles south-east of Edinburgh near the town of Prestonpans. Often regarded as the most desirable Scottish residence of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the palace was erected in the 15th century by George, 4th Lord Seton and the roughly triangular building had some similarities in style to his house at Winton.[1]

Seton Palace in 1638 by Alexander Keirincx, National Galleries of Scotland

The palace belonged to the Lords Seton by the 1500s and was a popular retreat for Mary, Queen of Scots. She spent time at the palace after the murder of her secretary David Rizzio, she had also spent her honeymoon with Lord Darnley there.[2]

Lupold von Wedel admired the tall hedges of the garden in 1584 but could not get in.[3] James VI and I stayed at Seton Palace in September 1589 waiting in vain for Anne of Denmark to arrive in Scotland.[4] On 31 May 1597 Anne of Denmark came to Seton in a litter, despite the rain, while James VI went to Falkland Palace.[5] Lord Walden came to Seton Palace to see Anne Hay, Countess of Winton and her children in 1613.[6]King James stayed at Seton again on 15 May 1617.[7]

The date when the original palace was built is uncertain but it was located on the lands of Seton and Winton. Richard Maitland's History of the House of Seytoun mentions some aspects of the building. He wrote that George Seton, 5th Lord Seton (d. 1513) completed the "jemmay house", a wing which his grandfather, John, Master of Seton (d. 1476) had begun. His widow, Janet Hepburn, Lady Seton built the fore-work or gatehouse.[8] The palace was burnt by an English army on 16 May 1544 after the burning of Edinburgh. The English commander Lord Hertford wrote that while he was burning the palace, Lord Seton was nearby with some horsemen, "so that he might well see his own house and town on fire."[9]

The great tower and the "jemmay house" were subsequently restored by Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar, Captain of Edinburgh Castle and father-in-law of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton. The walled garden was also built at this time. The old great tower collapsed in 1561, the structure comprised by new windows. Janet Hepburn's gatehouse was then almost entirely rebuilt.[10]

Historical records indicate that it was the most magnificent palace in Scotland in the 17th Century.[11] Alexander Nisbet described some details of the interior. Above the fireplace in the Great Hall were the Seton heraldry quartered with the Earl of Buchan encircled with a collar which Nisbet claimed to represent the Order of the Thistle. The ceiling of another room, called "Samson's Hall" incorporated 28 armorial achievements of families of France, Scotland and Lorraine, "curiously embossed and illuminated."[12] Viscount Kingston mentions seeing a mural painting on the end wall of the Long Gallery which he believed showed the 7th Lord Seton driving a wagon during his years of exile in France following the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots.[13]

The owners of Seton Palace in the early 1700s, the Earls of Winton, had their estates confiscated after the Jacobite rising of 1715. The palace was burned out during the Rising[14] and in 1780, it was described as being in ruins. [15] The palace was demolished in 1789.[16]

In 1789 the owner of the site, Lt Col Alexander Mackenzie of the 21st Dragoons, commissioned Robert Adam to build a mansion that would become Seton Castle. Some of the stone from the palace was used in the construction.[17]

A 1987 report states, "only the walls of the famous formal gardens of the 16th and 17th century remain [of the original palace]".[18]

King Charles I commissioned a view of the Palace from Alexander Keirincx in 1638.

References
  1. Seton Castle, Castles of Scotland
  2. David Laing, History of the Reformation by John Knox, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1848), p. 492.
  3. Gottfied von Bülow, 'Journey Through England and Scotland Made by Lupold von Wedel in the Years 1584 and 1585', in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 9 (London, 1895), p. 247.
  4. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 154.
  5. James Dennistoun, Moysie's Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. xxiv
  6. Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1858), pp. 450-1.
  7. Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 133.
  8. Richard Maitland & Viscount Kingston, History of the House of Seytoun (Glasgow, 1829), pp. 37, 39.
  9. Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 379
  10. Richard Maitland & Viscount Kingston, History of the House of Seytoun (Glasgow, 1829), pp. 42-45.
  11. http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/GDL00340, Seton House
  12. Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry, vol. 1 (reprint, 1984), 'Of Celestial Figures etc.,' p. 234.
  13. Richard Maitland & Viscount Kingston, History of the House of Seytoun (Glasgow, 1829), p. 58.
  14. https://www.thecastlesofscotland.co.uk/the-best-castles/feature-articles/seton-castle/, Seton Castle
  15. https://www.scotsman.com/news-2-15012/castle-worth-fighting-over-yours-for-a-cool-163-15m-1-1048836, Castle worth fighting over
  16. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49408148, Scottish castle goes up for sale
  17. The architecture of Robert Adam (1728-1792)
  18. http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/GDL00340, Seton House

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