236 REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1900 



completing?.' " From these quotations it appears the church 

 was probably re-built about the end of the fifteenth century, 

 and added to by the second Lord Seton. The transept tower 

 and spire would appear to have been erected by the Dowager 

 Lady Seton in the 16th. century, after her husband's death 

 at the battle of Flodden. 



There appears to be no doubt that the church was rebuilt 

 or restored at the date it was made collegiate, and it is 

 quite in keeping with the style of other churches of late 

 pointed Gothic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such 

 as that of King's College, Aberdeen, and Haddington Church. 

 The church was dedicated to St. Mary and Holy Cross, 

 and was designed as a complete cross without aisles, having 

 a central tower and spire at the intersection of choir and 

 transepts. The nave has never been built. The north and 

 south end windows of the transepts are large, and divided 

 into two by a large stone mullion, and the rest of the 

 window is filk d with stone tracery. The other windows of 

 the church are smaller, and filled with centre mullions and 

 tracery. Th.e spire, which is broached, is uncommon in 

 Scotland, and has never been finished. In 1544 the " auld 

 enemies " of Scotland burnt and destroyed the castle, and 

 consumed the woodwork of the Kirk, and carried off the 

 bells, organ, and other moveables. The church is carefully 

 kept, and too great praise cannot be given to the family of 

 the Eai-1 of VVemyss and March fur the careful and conservative 

 manner in which the church has been preserved and restored. 

 The next places visited were the old gardens and orchard, 

 which were famous in their day, and still are so, for their 

 fruit. Large portions of the garden walls are very old, 

 and date from the time of the castle. 



There is an old fosse all around the east, north, and west 

 sides of the present building — mis-named Seton Castle. This 

 building was erected by Mackenzie of Portmore in 1770 or 

 thereabouts, and more resembles an asylum than a mansion 

 house. The once magnificent building which stood upon 

 the site of the present mansion was considered the finest 

 building of its kind in Scotland. A castle had long 

 occupied this site, which was greatly destroyed in 1544 

 by the Earl of Hertford's invasion. The famous building 



