The Scone Palace

The Scone Palace
Once the crowning place of the Kings of Scots, Scone Palace occupies a unique position in the history of Scotland. A breathtakingly beautiful place of power and mystery and the rightful home of the celebrated Stone of Scone - also known as the Stone of Destiny.

There can be few places in Scotland as historically potent as Scone Palace. When you visit Scone Palace you are walking in the footsteps of Scotland’s ancient founding fathers, both pagan and Christian.
Robert the Bruce was crowned at Scone in 1306 and the last coronation was of Charles II, when he accepted the Scottish crown in 1651. The place of coronation was called Caislean Credi, 'Hill of Credulity', which survives as the present Moot Hill.
The present owner, the 8th Earl of Mansfield, William David Murray, succeeded his father in 1971. He is married to Pamela, daughter of Wilfred Neill Foster, CBE. Lord Mansfield is also 13th Viscount Stormont and Lord Scone, 11th Lord Balvaird and Hereditary Keeper of Bruce’s Castle of Lochmaben. Lord Mansfield has three children. His eldest son, Alexander, by courtesy Viscount Stormont, is the heir.
It says that the Scone Palace is one of the most haunted castles ever.
Footsteps have been heard as though walking on the stone floor which has since been covered and is now of wood.
Replica of the Stone of Destiny in front of the Chapel on Moot Hill


Legend says that the Stone of Destiny was used as a pillow by Jacob in biblical times. It was believed to have been brought to Scotland in the 9th century. (Other experts suggest it was quarried in the Oban area).
It was used as part of the crowning ceremonies of the kings of Dalriada, in the west of Scotland (now Argyll).
When Kenneth I, the 36th King of Dalriada moved his capital to Scone from western Scotland around 840AD, the Stone of Destiny was moved there too. Coronations of Scottish kings took place at Moot Hill at Scone Palace. There is now only a replica of the stone there.
John Balliol was the last Scottish king to be crowned on the stone at Scone in 1292.
The Stone was taken from Scone by King Edward I of England in 1296 and remained under the Coronation Throne at Westminster Abbey in London for 700 years. However, there have always been theories that the Scots did not hand over the real stone!
On December 25, 1950 a group of Scottish removed the Stone and brought it back to Scotland where it remained for four months before it was returned. Or was it? There have been suggestions that a copy was returned, compounding the earlier stories about substitution.
The stone finally came back to Scotland on St Andrew's Day, 30 November 1996, and is housed beside the other Honours of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle.
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