Seton Palace and Estate

Often regarded as the most desirable Scottish residence of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, The Palace of Seton, in it’s final phase, was similar in style to the family’s House at Winton, showing the influence of Elizabethan architecture in Scottish architecture. The Palace was indeed an imposing building. Set around a large triangular court stood three large fronts of freestone. The front to the south east consisted of an apartment with hallway, drawing-room, parlour, bedchamber, dressing-room and closet. This apartment was built in the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, indicated by the ceiling which featured the Coats-of-Arms of Scotland, France, Queen Mary, the Dauphin and Hamilton etc., all of which were surrounded by the French Order of St. Michael. The earlier front to the north housed the apartments of state, necessary because Seton Palace was frequently visited by Royalty which included James V, Mary Queen of Scots, James VI, Charles I and Charles II. The earlier front to the north housed three great rooms with 40 foot high ceilings. Rooms were finely furnished after Mary Queen of Scots kept Court there on her return from France. To accommodate staff the third front was full of good lodging rooms and the outer Courts included numerous offices and a Church or Chapel. To defend this impressive building, towers stood at every angle and on each side of the gate.

According to tradition, it was customary for the Earls of Wintoun once a year to ‘ride the marches’ of their estates, which were so extensive that a whole day, from sunrise to sunset, was required to ride in state round the boundaries of their lands. On these occasions the head of the house was always accompanied by a large retinue of friends and retainers, mounted on gaily caparisoned horses, the charger of the chief being arrayed in cloth of silk adorned with gold tassels. The festivities which followed this ceremonial lasted several days.

The estates of the last Earl of Wintoun were forfeited to the Crown on his attainder, for the part which he took in the Jacobite rising of 1715. They were vested by Act of Parliament in the King for the public interest, and Commissioners were appointed for inquiring into their condition. Owing to the numerous obstacles thrown in their way, it was not until the autumn of 1719 that the Commissioners were ready to dispose of the forfeited lands. In a number of instances the forfeited estates were bought back for the family of their former proprietors, but none of the Setons appear to have been able to purchase the Wintoun property, as the main line was extinct. On the 6th of October the Wintoun estate was put up for sale by auction, and, with a trifling exception, was purchased by the agent of the York Buildings Company for the sum of £50,300. It appears, from an official survey taken in the years 1716 and 1717, that the rental of the estate amounted at that time to £3,393. Of that sum only £266 7s. 9d. was payable in money; £876 18s. 4d. was payable in wheat valued at 10s. 5d. per boll, £1,019 12s. 2d. in barley, and £166 2s. 6d. in oats, both valued at the same price as the wheat. The salt-pans and coal-pits were reckoned at about £1,000; [The company attempted to work the coal-mines and salt-pans at Tranent. They fitted up one of the new fire engines, the first of the kind in Scotland, and made a wooden railway between one and two miles long, connecting the pits with the salt-works at Preston and the harbour at Port Seton. After an expenditure of £3,500 they could not clear £500 a year from the coal-pits and salt-pans combined. They let them for £1000 a-year to a ‘competent person,’ but in no long time he gave up the lease, because he could not make sufficient to pay the rent. The company also tried glass-making, and set up a manufactory for that article at Port Seton; but, on balancing their accounts at Christmas, 1732, they found that they had lost £4,088 17s. 5d. by the experiment.] 749 capons at 16d. each, and 802 hens at 6 2/3d. each, amounted to £53 10s., and 504 thraves of straw, at 5d. per thrave, to £10 10s.

The York Buildings Company ultimately became bankrupt, and in 1779 the Wintoun estate was again exposed for sale. As the property was of great extent, it was thought that it would be difficult to find a person able to purchase the whole, and it was therefore, by authority of the Court of Session, put up in lots. The first two of these, including the famous old Seton House, the chief residence of the family, were purchased by Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, W.S., who was common agent for the creditors of the company. [Mr. Mackenzie was succeeded as a common agent in 1789, on the nomination of the company, by Mr. Walter Scott, W.S., who at that time had as his apprentice his son, the great novelist and poet.] No objection was made at the time to the legality of this purchase on the part either of the Court or of the creditors; but thirteen years afterwards an action of reduction was brought at the instance of the company. The Court of Session gave judgment in Mr. Mackenzie’s favour, but their decision was reversed on appeal to the House of Lords. The Company not only raised the general question that the purchase was a breach of trust on the part of the common agent, but they brought special and strong charges against Mr. Mackenzie’s conduct in the transaction. They alleged that the manner in which the previous rental was made up was not satisfactory, and that the knowledge which Mr. Mackenzie had obtained in his official capacity of the condition and details of the property had been of material advantage to him. They further averred that the sale had been hurried through in an irregular and improper manner. According to the custom of that time the sale was advertised to take place ‘between the hours of four and six afternoon,’ a latitude allowed for the ‘want of punctuality in the judge, the clerks, and the other persons immediately concerned,’ so that five o’clock came to be considered the proper and real hour. On this occasion, however, Lord Monboddo, the Ordinary, before whom the judicial sale was to take place, having received a hint to be punctual, arrived at the Parliament House and took his seat upon the bench exactly as the clock struck four. Proceedings commenced immediately, and the first and second lots, having been put up successively, were knocked down to Mr. Mackenzie without waiting the outrunning of the half-hour sand-glass, as required by the Articles of sale. Several persons who had intended to offer for these lots found, to their great disappointment and chagrin, on their arrival at the Court that the sale was over. These allegations do not appear to have been taken into consideration by the House of Lords, since the illegality of the conduct of the agent was regarded as sufficient to vitiate the transaction.

The lands in question were again exposed for sale, and were purchased by the Earl of Wemyss in 1798, at three times the price that had been paid by Mr. Mackenzie. The decision of the House of Lords unfortunately came too late to save from destruction the fine old castle or palace of Seton, as it was called, owing to its having been frequently the residence of royalty. It occupied a commanding position on the coast of the Firth of Forth, closely adjoining the battlefield of Prestonpans. The date of its erection is unknown, but it had undergone at various times considerable alterations and enlargements. The building consisted of three extensive fronts of freestone, with a triangular court in the middle. The front to the south-east—which appears to have been built early in the reign of Queen Mary—contained, beside other apartments, a noble hall and drawing-room. The state apartments, which were very spacious, consisted of three great rooms forty feet high, and their furniture was covered with crimson velvet laced with gold. There were also two large galleries filled with pictures. Altogether, the mansion was regarded as the most magnificent and elegantly furnished house in Scotland.

Seton Palace was a favourite resort of Queen Mary. It was visited by her in her royal progresses, and, as we have mentioned, it was her first halting-place when she and Darnley made their escape from Holyrood after the murder of Rizzio. She was entertained there by Lord Seton in 1567, and on that occasion she and Bothwell won a match in shooting at the butts against Lords Seton and Huntly. The forfeit was a dinner, which the losers had to provide in an inn at Tranent. When James VI. revisited his native country in 1617, he spent his second night in Scotland at Seton. Charles I. also, on his journey from London to Edinburgh, in 1633, in order to be crowned there as well as in England, halted a night at Seton, and was magnificently entertained by George, third Earl of Wintoun. The castle was held for a short time in 1715 by Brigadier Macintosh and a detachment of Highlanders before their march to the Borders to join the Northumbrian insurgents under Mr. Forster and Lord Derwentwater.