The Wee Magic Stane
Willie Shand explores the fascinating history of the Destiny Stane, or Stone of Scone.
ON his trek from Beersheba to Haran, Jacob is said to have slept with a stone as his pillow. Upon this pillow, Genesis records, Jacob had his dream of the stairway to heaven.
Little could he have realised just how special that stone would become from that day forward.
And did it really find its way to Scotland?
So far back in time, it’s hard to separate fact from legend. But the stone is said to have been brought from Syria to Egypt and thence to Ireland by Gathelus, a descendant of the King of Athens.
He is said to have been crowned upon the stone and made King of Ireland.
Around 1,500 years ago we’re told that migrant
Irish arrived in the west of Scotland and established their Kingdom of Dalriada at Dunadd in Argyll.
Carved into the rock on the summit of Dunadd you’ll find a footprint and a hollowed bowl. These are believed to have been used in the inaugural ceremonies of our earliest kings.
That ceremony is also thought to have included use of the stone brought here by Fergus, son of Erc. Rightly or wrongly, this stone is probably better known in Scotland as the “Stone of Destiny”.
Since 1996 the stone has sat alongside Scotland’s Crown Jewels under guard in Edinburgh Castle.
Or has it?
The story of the wee magic stane which has played a key part in the crowning ceremonies of dozens of monarchs since the sixth century has more twists and turns than any Agatha Christie novel.
The stone that resides in Edinburgh Castle may not only be a copy but a copy of a copy. Why?
Way back in Dunadd, it was given to St Columba of Iona, they say, who may have used it as a portable altar.
It was described as black in colour, marble like and with metal carrying hooks. It was hollowed on the top. A far cry from today’s lump of sandstone.
After Columba died, the Western Isles, including Iona, were attacked and pillaged by Vikings. For safety, in 849 AD the stone was taken to Dunkeld by King Kenneth MacAlpin.
Some say it was taken to Dunstaffnage Castle in Argyll and that it may still be there, built into the stonework for safekeeping.
Then, 1,000 years ago, the stone was brought to the seat of the Pictish
Kings at Scone – hence the stone’s other name, the “Stone of Scone”.
Over the next four centuries some 20 monarchs were crowned upon it on the Moot Hill.
At Scone Palace today, in front of the little Gothic chapel on the Moot Hill, is a replica of the stone.
Another name for the hill is the Boot Hill – so called because in mediaeval times noblemen were expected to declare their allegiance to the King while standing upon their own land.
To avoid the King having to make risky and arduous journeys, an easier custom was adopted. The noblemen would bring some of their own soil with them in their boots and so, by emptying this soil on to the Moot Hill, they were indeed standing on their own land.
An ancient right of way known as the Coronation Road connects through Kinfauns to where a ferry would once cross the Tay.
In 2006 the Moot Hill saw a re-enactment of the crowning of King Robert the Bruce, yet in 1306 the Stone of Scone probably was not at the ceremony.
Its authenticity has been questioned from 1296, when Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, with an army of 10,000, was heading back to London.
He knew the stone was a symbol of great power to his enemies in Scotland. Take it and he could severely damage morale.
He did, and ordered a bronze chair to be made to house it in Westminster Abbey. The stone lay there for the next 700 years.
But was this the real stone? The abbot and monks of Scone Abbey would have known Edward’s intentions. Did they make a copy and hide the real one?
Edward would not have known what it actually looked like. Is this why the stone in Edinburgh is made of sandstone like that
found in Perthshire?
It might explain why, two years later, Edward I sent another raiding party back to Scone in search of something; also why the order for the bronze chair was changed to one of timber. Did he suspect he’d been duped?
Maybe the “real” stone never left Scotland at all in 1296, and the stone that sat below the Coronation Chair in Westminster was only a copy. If so, where might the original be?
We’ve all put something in a safe place, only to forget where. Generations on, what is hidden is well and truly lost.
Where is it? Some say Dunstaffnage; others Skye. Do the Knights Templar have it at Dull, or did the monks bury it on Dunsinane Hill?
In 1950 students broke into Westminster Abbey and took the stone, breaking it in the process. It was later left by them at Arbroath Abbey and returned to London, but not before copies had been made. Copies of a copy?
Also, was the stone the one they’d taken from Westminster, or one of the 1950 copies?
Over 200 years ago, two lads were playing around Macbeth’s Castle on Dunsinane Hill. Following a recent collapse, they found, in an underground chamber, a carved black stone with two round, inscribed tablets.
It was not sandstone and was reckoned to be of meteoric origin. This stone, which fitted more accurately any old descriptions, was sent south to London for expert investigation and that was the last seen of it.
There’s no doubt that the stone on display in Edinburgh (assuming it’s the one Edward I nicked) has a long and colourful past of its own. It has witnessed the coronation of so many monarchs of Scotland, England and the UK that it well deserves its place.
As for the “real”, pre1296 stone, who knows?
Maybe it’s still hiding itself somewhere in
London!