A PUBLIC consultation has been launched into the future location of the Stone of Destiny.
One proposal is for it to be the centrepiece of a new £23 million museum at the former Perth City Hall, which is expected to open in 2022.
If it remains at Edinburgh Castle, Historic Environment Scotland plan a major redevelopment of the display.
Here are 20 facts about the historic stone:
- The Stone of Destiny – or Stone of Scone – is a legendary lump of sandstone used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish monarchs.
- In Gaelic it is known as Lia Fail – “the speaking stone”.
- It is said to be the Jacob’s Pillow referred to in the Bible which then travelled to its spiritual home via Syria, Spain and Ireland.
- It ended up as a feature of the kingdom of Dalriada – roughly modern day Argyll.
- Kenneth I, 36th king of Dalriada, brought it east when he united the Scots and Picts as a single kingdom around 840AD.
- The Stone sat atop the Moot Hill at Scone, near Perth, for most of its existence as the mythical legend grew.
- It was snatched by Edward I, Hammer of the Scots, in 1296 after defeating the Scots in a series of battles and taken to London.
- Legend has it that Edward may not have got his hands on the genuine Stone but one carved by monks as a replacement to thwart him.
- Sub-texts of legend say that what he grabbed was nothing more than a cesspit cover.
- Whatever the truth, from the 13th century, the Stone from Scone was kept in Westminster Abbey housed in a special Coronation Chair fashioned in 1301.
- For the next seven centuries it was used in the coronation of English monarchs – the first being Edward II – and every king and queen since.
- On Christmas Day 1950 the Stone was liberated from the Abbey and repatriated to Scotland by a quartet of SNP-supporting students.
- The following April, after an extensive police hunt across two countries, a deal was done between kidnappers and authorities to allow a Stone to be returned and restored to its empty place in the Coronation Chair.
- Immediately, rumours began circulating that a fake stone had once more been handed over and rival stones popped up in many places, including the Arlington Bar in Glasgow.
- A 2008 film was made of the incident, including how the Stone broke in two when lifted into the boot of their escape car.
- In 1996, Tory Secretary of State Michael Forsyth came up with a wheeze to return the Stone to Scotland as a distraction from the 1997 devolution referendum.
- On St Andrew’s Day the full panoply of the UK establishment was there as it was escorted up the Royal Mile, escorted by the members of the Royal Company of Archers.
- It didn’t work from a devolution-opposing Tory point of view as the referendum soon afterwards returned a thumping majority in favour a Scottish Parliament with tax-raising powers.
- The Stone, secure in its own symbolism and mythology, now sits in Edinburgh Castle as part of the Honours of Scotland display.
- An arrangement is in place to allow it to be returned to London so that the next king or queen can sit on it at their coronation.
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