One of East Lothian’s many hidden gems, Seton Collegiate Church is reached via a woodland path that opens into a walled garden, an oasis of tranquillity that reveals one of the finest surviving medieval collegiate churches in Scotland.

Seton dates back to the 12th century when the site was chosen for a new parish church. A few centuries later, due to the church’s increasing use as a private place of worship and burial vault of the Seton family, the 1st Lord Seton introduced a college of priests and began work on a new choir and a small sacristy where priests prepared themselves for mass. Finally in 1492, his son acquired papal approval for the church to receive full collegiate status and completed the building work his father had started. The church was dedicated to St Mary and the Holy Cross and the college comprised a provost, six priests, a clerk and two choirboys. What remains of their domestic quarters can still be seen to the northwest of the church.

Being close to the border, the church suffered damage during the wars between the Scots and the English (the latter burned timber work and stole the bells and organ), which the widow of the 3rd Lord Seton did her best to repair by building the present transepts and steeple bell tower.

It continued as a parish church until the Protestant Reformation in 1560. Because families such as the Setons owned their chapels, the Reformed church was unable to take possession of them – bit it could, and most certainly did, make sure they were not used as Roman Catholic churches, and as a result, Seton ceased to be a collegiate church.

Following the Jacobite Rising of 1715 the church was ransacked and family tombs vandalised, likely in retribution for the Seton family’s supporting the exiled James Edward Stuart. Later in the 18th century the estate passed to the Earl of Wemyss, who restored what was left of the church as his family’s burial place.

Now in the care of Historic Scotland, Seton Collegiate Church is a four-star tourist attraction, much admired not only for its beautiful location (well signposted off the A198 near Longniddry) but also for its very fine stonework, particularly the priests’ seats and basin used for rinsing sacred vessels in the choir, and quirky green man stone carvings and stone faces that range from happy to grotesque. Inside the church are two effigies, one male, the other female, dating from the 15th century – the female effigy, badly defaced, is possibly of earlier origin.

Seton is open daily in summer from April to September from 9.30am to 5.30pm. Admission costs £3.20 for adults; £1.90 child and £2.70 concession. A visit to this beautiful ecclesiastical building is a must.