Seton Palace

Seton Palace stood in East Lothian, a few miles south-east of Edinburgh near Prestonpans. Built in the 15th century by George, 4th Lord Seton, it became one of Scotland’s most admired residences in the 16th and 17th centuries. Mary, Queen of Scots often stayed there, including her honeymoon with Lord Darnley in July 1565. She played golf and pall-mall in the fields around the palace, and a marriage contract with the Earl of Bothwell was allegedly drawn up there in 1567. The palace was triangular, with three wings around a courtyard, and described in 1636 as a fine residence by the sea. The palace belonged to the Seton family for generations and hosted many notable figures. Mary of Guise spent Christmas there in 1559, and James VI stayed multiple times, including in 1589 and 1617. The interior featured grand halls with heraldic decorations, such as the Great Hall’s fireplace adorned with Seton arms and the Order of the Thistle. A room called Samson’s Hall had a ceiling with 28 armorial achievements from France, Scotland and Lorraine. The gardens grew strawberries, sycamores and walnut trees, and once produced a rare turbo pica shell turned into a snuff box. Today, little remains of the palace itself, but Seton Collegiate Church stands nearby, displaying fragments of the original carved stonework. Some of the 16th- and 17th-century garden walls survive, including lookout turrets at the corners. Seton Castle, built in 1789, now occupies the site, using some of the palace’s stone. The chapel and the remnants of the gardens offer a quiet reminder of the palace’s former grandeur.