A History of
the Seton's and the Barony and Lands of Barnes
On the farm of Barney Mains, there are
extensive ruins known as the Vaults or 'Vouts'. In the war-like times of 1470 the
nobles were in open rebellion and it was found necessary to fortify the convents
and other religious establishments. The 'Barney Vouts' were erected for this
purpose by Sir John Seton of Barnes. The buildings were situated on a bold
promontory stretching from the highlands of Garleton; and from the arched stone
roofs of the under story, were commonly called 'the Vaults'. These vaults
surrounded a spacious square where the beeves and other beasts of pasture
belonging to the barony might repose in security, free from the knife of the
marauder, while the nut-brown ale lay un-rippled in the adjoining catacombs'. Sir
John Seton was proprietor of most of the land around Aimsfield. He died in 1594
and was buried in the nave of the old church of Haddington where a grand carved
monument can be seen in the Seton's of the Barnes' burying place. The farm of Amisfield Mains, formerly
called Harperdean Mains was originally two farms. The west part of it was called
The Barnes. Amisfield Mains formed part of the estate of the Seton's of the Barnes.
From the Notes and Queries, Published Jan 26, 1907, London:
BARNES : ORIGIN OF THE NAME (10 S. v. :308, 352, 472). The
derivation of the place-name Bernieres cannot be given with
certainty, but a consideration of analogous words may lead to a
plausible explanation.
'The well-known Norman family of De Redvers or Rivers was called
in official documents De Ripariis, and sometimes De Ripuariis or
De Riveriis. According to Huet, ' Origines de la Ville de Caen,'
which is quoted by De Magny in his ' Nobiliaire de Normandie,'
this name is derived from a seigneury lying about four leagues
from Caen called Reviers, or, in Latin, Ripuariae, an adjectival
form which denotes its situation on the banks of several
streams. The Counts de Reviers de Mauny still represent one of
the principal families of Normandy.
As I showed at the last reference, the name of Berners was
latinized as De Bernariis, and the seigeury of Bernieres would
therefore be called Bernariae. This is probably derived from an
adjectival form of berne,
an old Norman-French word of which the history is given by Prof.
Skeat in his valuable work ' The Place-Names of Hertfordshire,'
1904, p. 60. The meaning of this word is " a brim, edge, bank,
or slope," and it was
adapted from the Dutch berm, which is closely related to the
English brim. The meaning of Bernariae or Bernieres would
therefore be of a similar nature to Riparise or Reviers, and the
word would be akin to the
English name Barnet. Another analogous name is Ferrers, in Latin
De Ferrariis, which is now represented by Ferrieres, the name of
a seigneury and village in Normandy.
The Seton's
history with the estate of Barnes began with Sir Alexander
Seton, who got from his royal uncle, King Robert
Bruce in the 14th century, important grants of land for services rendered by his father,
and also
certain honorable and uncommon additions to his paternal
coat
of arms. A little later he received another grant — this
time of the
Barony of Barnes, including Easter and Wester Barnes in East Lothian,
for his own services particularly in Ireland, whither he had accompanied the king's
brother,
Edward Bruce in his quest to claim that country's Crown.
The appeal of the Irish chieftains for deliverance from
their English conquerors, the Scottish expedition to
Ireland, the crowning of Edward Bruce as King of Ireland in 1316, his
victorious
march at the head of a small army of Scotchmen, with
very little native assistance, from Carrickfergus
to Limerick, his unsuccessful
siege of Dublin, his retreat northward, and his final
defeat and
death with nearly all of his followers at the battle of
Dundalk, on
October 5, 1318, is one of the most chivalrous episodes,
as it was
one of the most ill-advised measures, in the history of
Scotland.
Sir Alexander Seton was one of the thirty-nine nobles
and
others who assembled in Parliament at the Abbey of
Arbroath on
April 6, 1320, and addressed that famous letter to Pope
John
XXII. at Avignon, which is one of the most spirited and
patriotic
documents in history. It induced the Holy See to
recognize the
independence of Scotland and the title of King Robert
Bruce.
His
descendant, Sir William Seton was the first created and
made lord in the parliament, and he and his posterity to have a vote
therein, and be called Lords.'
In a manuscript of the British Museum, Sir William Seton
is
styled 'Wilhelmus primus Dns. Seton,' and several other
documents confirm the title to him. The 1st Lord
Seton belonged to the third Order of Saint Francis, and
dying in February, 1409, was buried in the Church of the
Franciscan Friars in Haddington (the later burial place
of the Seton's of Barnes), to whom he left by will six
loads of
coal weekly, out of his coal-pit of Tranent, and forty
shillings
annually to be charged to his estate of Barnes. His
widow is
described as a virtuous and energetic woman, who got
husbands
for four of her daughters, and built a chantry on the
south side of
the parish church of Seton, prepared a tomb for herself
there, and
made provision for a priest to say mass perpetually for
the repose
of her soul.
The lands
of Barnes were then to remain with the Seton family for
the next four centuries, primarily with the head of the
Household, The Lord Seton, and later to granted to the
3rd son of the 7th Lord Seton, Sir John Seton, Lord
Barnes, a diplomat in Spain who founded the branch of
the Seton's of Barnes and who died in 1594, as his
paternal estate. Sir Richard Maitland of
Lethington wrote in his 'History', that this Sir John
Seton was a brave young man who after being sent to
France and Rome for his education:
"...He went to
Spain, to the court of King Phillip the Second, by whom he was
made Knight of the Royal Order of St Jago, at that time, the
order of knighthood in that kingdom of greatest esteem. In
memory whereof, he and his heirs, has a sword in their coat of
arms, being the Badge of that Order.
King Phillip also
preferred him to be gentleman of his chamber, and Cavalier de la
Boca (which is Master-Household): he also carried the golden key
at his side, in a blue ribbing : all which, were the greatest
honours King Phillip of Spain could give to any of his subjects,
except to be made a Grandee of Spain. He had a pension granted
to him and his heirs of two thousand crowns yearly: when I, the
writer hereof, was at the King of Spain his court, I was
certainly informed of the truth of all this.
The said Sir John, in the heights of his favour with King
Phillip of Spain, was commanded home by King James the Sixth,
unwilling to want so gallant a subject out of his court and
service. At his return home, he preferred him to be Treasurer of
his House; was in great favour with his Majesty. He was
also created Lord Barnes (1587 to 1594) of the Lords of Session
in Parliament as an Ordinary Lord, in the place of his younger
brother Alexander promoted. He was likewise created Master
of the Kings Household, like that of his father, and Master of
the Kings Horse.
It was not
doubted, if he had lived some time after the King's coming to
the crown of England, he would have highly advanced him in
honour and fortune; but he died before King James went from
Scotland. He made an great building at the Barnes, vault height,
before his death intending that building round a court. He
married the eldest daughter to the Lord Forbes, by whom he had
two sons and one daughter. His second son died a young man. He
himself died in the strength of his age, a young man; and was
buried in the College Kirk of Seton. "
His incomplete
castle stands on a ridge in the Garleton Hills of East Lothian -
Barnes Castle lies a half-mile (1 km) southwest of
Athelstaneford and 2 miles (3 km) northeast of Haddington.
The extensive ruins, near the farm-house of Barney-mains, are a
specimen of fortified granges. The buildings are situated on a
bold promontory, stretching from the highlands of Garleton, and
from the arched stone roofs of the under storey they are
commonly called " the Vaults." These vaults surround a spacious
square, where the beeves, and other beasts of pasture, belonging
to the barony, might repose in security free from the knife of
the marauder while the nut-brown ale lay un-rippled in the
adjoining catacombs; thus the castle is often referred to simply
as 'The Vaults'.
The ruins of the
16th c residence are of unusual type - an example of axial
planning. It is a rectangle 162'6" by 126'8" with the major axis
NE-SW, the walls are of rubble masonry and average 0.8m in
width. Square towers project externally from the angles
and between these are spaced intermediate towers - two on the
NW, one on the SE, and one centrally on the SW. At the highest
the walls are 14' but only the vaulted ground floor of the
dwelling portion remains. The walls are laid out in a
highly formal symmetrical Spanish-style, which was very advanced
for its time, defining a square, intended to enclose a
courtyard, with well-defined corner towers. The remains of
Barnes Castle, generally as described above, are in relatively
poor condition and used as a farm store.
The 2nd Sir John
Seton of Barnes succeeded his father when he came of age, 3rd
October 1615, and using the benefits of his estate and his
father's pension's, was able to expand his fortunes and acquire
the castle of Hailes, and briefly that of Crichton, as well as
lands in Ireland from Gordon of Lochinvar, and hence the castle
of Barnes was never completed. His son, Sir George Seton
of Barnes (and of Hailes or "Haillis"), leased the lands
of Easter and Wester Barnes via sasine in 1681, to George
Cockburn of Piltoune of the Ormiston family.
Later, the
Seton's of Barnes and the Seton's of Garleton had legal disputes
of adjoining lands, and were long noted in court records in
Edinburgh, before they were finally sold. The last
possesor of the family estate, George Seton of Barnes, succeeded
and claimed the Lordship of Urquhart and the Honours of
Dunfermline in 1694, including the Abbott's House at Elgin, and "Proclaimed" the Pretender at Kelso in 1715, but surrendered at
Preston later that year. He escaped insurrection after the rebellion
and settled in Haddington (noted in 1732). He sold the lands
of Hailes to David Dalrymple in 1700, and the lands of Barnes to Colonel Charteris
in 1715. He was noted in a bond, dated 29th June, 1727,
as "Lord Dunfermline", and was the male-representative of the Earls of Dunfermline. At his death, he was buried in Seton Collegiate
Church.