Traditionally the lands of
St. Germains (or St. Germans) in Tranent were a
possession of the head of the Seton Family, being a
Templar-connected property for which the Seton's administered
to. The lands were named for the those in France, the
famed St. Germains which later served the Scottish Monarchs
while in exile and which were graciously awarded them for use, by the
King's of France. The estate was used originally as a
hospital, which was founded by the de Quincy's for the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of the Star of Bethlehem, and it's
foundation can confidently be assigned to the period 1170-1180
by Robert de Quincy. It remained as a
property for the Knights Hospitallers for another two centuries;
not surprisingly so since the head of the Seton family was also
part of the senior Templar organization in Scotland, and who had
acquired the lands via marriage with the de Quincy heiress.
In Scotland, the organization of the Templars was brought by
those Knight-families who had been active in Rome and the
Middle East-Jerusalem. The Templars overall had been
instituted by the Charlemagnic families, and more
specifically by the flemish Boulognnaise - hence since the
majority of the principle families of Scotland had been
originally flemish-Boulognnaise, then it is only logical
that they would have brought those activities and
interests along with them. The crusades of course only
strengthened to maintain connections "back-home" in
Flanders, and the ties into the Templarist organization.
The Seton's then, being senior bloodline of the Charlemagnic
line were part of the trinity of the Templars in Scotland -
the Seton, Sinclairs and Stewarts.
Therefore, as part of the organization there... they upheld
the tradition of caring of the poor, the sick and the
elderly, in a Knightly-sense. Chivalry, the word,
originates from the French-word, Chevalier, meaning
literally, Knight. It originally referred to
the practice of these "knights" caring for the injured, the
sick and the poor; or more specifically, those who were
fortunate enough to be under the service and protection of
the Templars and their hospitals, which incidentally you can
still see the remains of this principle continuing in the
Masonic-Templar Shiners Hospitals for Children. Of
course during the founding of the St. Germains hospital, the
de Quincy family (who had founded it along with the Seton's)
had implemented what was then called a "hospital" to care
for the nobly-insane/injured knights serving in the
organization.
To get a better picture in your mind, invision the movie
Braveheart, and the battle scene's thereof. Imagine
the victims remaining after those battles, and more
specifically the "ennobled" knights of prominent families
who were severely injured, or who had become "unbalanced
in mind"as a result. This is what St. Germains
served, and given that the main road into Scotland passed
here, and still remains in the A198, this location was the
scene of endless conflicts, where the Battles of Pinkie and
Prestonpans come to mind. The Seton "House" or Castle,
was the main "guardhouse" into Scotland along this route,
and of the Scottish monarch's. Those castles and families
before that point being look-outs, or advance-defense, with
the Seton's being one of the "big guns" behind those
positions protecting the capitol and seat of the King. It
only makes sense that the "hospital" be located there -
hence, St. Germains.
St. Germains then, passed to the Seton's upon marriage with
the de Quincy heiress, and sealed into Seton hands by the
later de Quincy forfeitures. The house-hospital was
maintained and rebuilt by the Seton family, successively, in
the manner of "knightly service", an honour, or
responsibility and noble tradition. Of course it was
"leased" out in subsequent years following the reign of King
James IV, used occasionally as a hospital much in the very
same way that Pinkie House was used. There were various
disputes over usage of the property between descendants of
the various Lords Seton of previous generations, and the
later-tenants who leased the property from the then-present
Lord Seton.
Although principally a
Seton owned and managed-property, and part of the Barony, it's
lease was passed by marriage out of the junior-Seton family
lines
to the Stewart and Lauder families, and was then re-acquired by
the Lords Seton and bestowed upon a younger son who founded the
original first branch of the Seton's called: "of St. Germains".
The older branches of the Seton family, descended from the 2nd
and 3rd Lords Seton who were Baillie's of Tranent, made repeated
claims to retain the lands and the house-castle. One such famous occurrence is
noted in the records of the National Archives of
Scotland, where there is a transcript from the reign of King
James V, of an Instrument of Renunciation by George Seton, baker
and burgess of Edinburgh in presence of Lord Seton of lands of
St Germains lying beside the lands of Seton within the
constabulary of Haddington, to Mr Henry Lauder king's advocate,
and Agnes Stewart (of the Rosyth family) his spouse, because of
great injury and wrong done to them in hurting of her at her own
place of St Germains, dated 1 April, 1544.
The lands were returned to the useage Seton family
by George, 7th Lord Seton, and were bestowed by his son and heir
Robert Seton, 8th Lord Seton and later 1st Earl of Winton upon
his own second son George Seton (later 3rd Earl of Winton) in a
Charter dated 20th June 1602 (In
this charter George Seaton is designed nostro filio secundo
genito, and Sir Alexander Seaton, who has been referred to, as
fratri germano juniori of George); to his
third son Alexander Seton of Foulstruther (later 6th Earl of
Eglinton); and finally upon his fifth son, The Hon. Sir John
Seton, Knight, after his brother Alexander obtained the Earldom
of Eglinton. They remained with Sir John Seton's
descendants for three generations, and for whom are named the
branch of the family, "the Seton's of St. Germains". The
last Seton of St. Germains was George Seton, forfeit in 1715 and who died in 1718,
and who never married having been too poor to support a family
and his fortune sufficient only to stave-on as a gentleman; the
descendants of this family branch continuing in his uncles'
line.
The Estate passed out of the Seton family's
hands following the forfeiture's of the tumultuous
rebellion-event's of 1715. It was acquired by the Earl of
Wemyss during the sale of Winton Estate which was broken into
lots; the Wemyss' being a female-line cadet of the Seton family.
It was later acquired for use from the Earl's of Wemyss by Warren
Hastings via David Anderson senior (lawyer and factor to the
Earl of Wemyss) and his wife Mary Mitchelson; David Anderson
senior eventually retired to a house on the Wemyss estate at
Inveresk as David Anderson of Stoneyhill and the St. Germains
property was later purchased by his son, David Anderson junior
from his now-friend whom he served in India, the Governor
General Warren Hastings. David junior and his brother James had
studied at the University of Edinburgh like their elder brother
Francis, and later entered the service of the East India
Company, David as a writer or clerk, and James as a cadet in the HEIC army.
They became assistants to and close friends
of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal (India), for whom
David was a major political diplomat, and James a Persian
interpreter. David returned to England with Hastings in
1785, and gave evidence for the defense at Hastings’
impeachment; James returned to England the following year.
David helped Hastings prepare his defense for his impeachment,
and was one of the few witnesses who refused to be browbeaten by
the managers of the prosecution, Edmund Burke, Charles James Fox
and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Anderson bought St. Germains from Hastings in
1782, and after extensive renovations to the ageing property,
finally moved there in 1804. The house was visited frequently by
Hastings and also by another friend of his from Edinburgh, the
novelist Sir Walter Scott, and the estate remained in the
Anderson Family until about the turn of the 20th Century when it
was bought by the Tennent Family, famous in Scotland for its
lagers and beers. Last used as a complete house by the RAF
as a convalescent home for injured airmen during WW2, and
afterward was converted into apartments in 1947 rather than face
demolition.
Gone are the tall chimney's of the Seton's
work (similar to that at Seton Palace and Winton House), and of
the Seton-armorial adornments and out-buildings and garden
walls, some noted in Hailes' Historical Account, where Nisbet
mentions "that the arms of Seton and Kellie were yet to be seen
on a stone above the gate of St. Germains". The seven-bay
N front of St Germains was refurbished in the late 18th century using
the older foundations, from an addition to the earlier 17th and
18th century house which can still be seen behind it, and a
further addition was made about 1820. The house was
subdivided internally about 1950 and converted into more modern
flats in recent times.
The Coachman's House, Stables and
Granary (The Cottage), West Lodge (now demolished) and East
Lodge were also later converted to residential use in the 20th
century. The Dovecot at St Germain's which still remains is a cylindrical
dovecot, 50ft 10 ins in external diameter; the rubble walls are
3ft thick and have a single wide string course about 9ft 8 ins
from the ground. The entrance is on the W. and there is a
circular battlemented parapet round the top. The roof is of
stone and internally, there are 501 nests. This dovecot is
mentioned in 1780 (Edinburgh Advertiser, 11 April 1780), when St
Germains (NT47SW 1) was sold (A N Robertson 1952; D C Bailey and
M C Tindall 1963).
There has also been a discovery of
an Iron Age ring-fort at St. Germains. The site noted as a
cropmark on aerial photographs (flown 1976 and 1978), and
excavations were carried out throughout 1978-80, and are
continued in 1981, in advance of opencast coal mining. The
aerial photographs show a subcircular penannular ring with
probable antenna ditch, and an external system of linear
earthworks to the S, situated in a flat area which has long been
used for arable farming. The excavations to date
would indicate that, discounting a possible Beaker settlement or
encampment in the same area, evidenced by finds of sherds of AOC
Beaker, a barbed and tanged arrowhead, and small waste flint
chips, there were three main periods of Iron Age occupation.
