The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Real Stone of Destiny hidden in plain sight?
Top-secret X-rays were taken of the Stone of Destiny to prove its authenticity following claims the “real” version was hidden in Dundee.
Edward Heath’s Tory government was concerned by the prospect of being left with egg on its face following the Dundee plot twist 50 years ago.
The “radiographic examination” was just another chapter in the Stone of Destiny’s life as a holy relic fought over by the Scottish and English for more than 700 years.
The 400lb sandstone slab, reputed to be the stone on which the Biblical Jacob rested his head, is said to be the ancient coronation seat of Scottish and Irish kings.
It was taken from the Perthshire village of Scone in 1296 by King Edward I, the “Hammer of the Scots”, and brought to London.
Built into a specially constructed throne, it remained at Westminster until the daring raid on Christmas Day 1950 that has become the stuff of legend.
The ‘gang’ behind the theft was made up of Glasgow University students Ian Hamilton, Kay Matheson, Gavin Vernon and Alan Stuart.
The removal of the stone began a nationwide catand-mouse hunt, with the quartet successfully evading the authorities for several months.
It was damaged in the process and mended by Glasgow stonemason Bertie Gray.
The stone was stored in a variety of locations before the group eventually left it on the altar on April 11 1951 in the symbolic location of Arbroath Abbey, draped in a Saltire.
It was returned to Westminster Abbey.
After the 1950 raid, many believed a fake was returned south.
Fast-forward to June 1972 in Lochee.
A stone, locked inside an iron cage, was put on display at St Columba’s Church under the care of the Rev John MacKay Nimmo,
who was a Scottish nationalist.
Home Office officials and Westminster Abbey staff carried out an X-ray with a portable machine borrowed from the Ministry of Defence.
It showed that there were three metal rods in the stone.
Not that the public had any idea about any of this happening until 1996!
That’s when more than six volumes of private Scottish Office papers were declassified, including the confidential files relating to the secret tests in 1973.
It was in 1996 that prime minister John Major decided to return the stone to its homeland to mark the 700th anniversary of its removal from Scotland.
Brian King, author of Undiscovered Dundee, takes up the story.
He said: “There appears to be little doubt that the Knights Templar sincerely believe their stone to be the one that was removed from Westminster Abbey in 1950.”
Mr King concluded that “conspiracies and halftruths, secrets and fakery, all run through the story of the stone like lines through marble”.
In 2020, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the Stone of Destiny will return to Perthshire as the centrepiece of a new £26.5 million museum in 2024.