The Mysterious History of the Coronation Stone | The Stone of Destiny

Ahead of the coronation of King Charles III, historian Dan Snow explores the fascinating and mysterious history of the Coronation Stone, also known as the Stone of Scone or the Stone of Destiny.

The stone is a highly revered symbol of Scottish sovereignty. It is an oblong block of sandstone that weighs approximately 152 kilograms and it has been the subject of controversy and mystery for centuries, witnessing many turbulent events in British history.

Although geological analysis has shown the stone used today was quarried in Scotland, various legends trace the stone's history back to Biblical times. It was later placed outside Scone Palace in Scotland and featured in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish kings and queens for centuries.

The stone was captured by the English in 1296 during the Wars of Scottish Independence and was taken to Westminster Abbey in London, where it was placed under the seat of the Coronation Chair. It remained there for over 700 years, except for a brief period during the Second World War when it was moved to a secure location.

The theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950 by a group of Scottish nationalists created a sensation. The stone was taken to Scotland and hidden in various locations until it was eventually found on the altar of Arbroath Abbey. The stone was finally returned to Scotland by the British government in 1996. It was then placed in Edinburgh Castle alongside the Scottish Crown Jewels. But in the last few days, with the coronation of King Charles III approaching, the stone has once again made its way down to Westminster Abbey to take part in the ceremony.

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[cymro]

Wales _also_ had a symbol of Welsh sovereignty and independence that was taken by Edward:
A golden cross that had been passed down through generations of native Welsh princess, known as the _Croes Naid_ , it was said to contain a piece of the true cross. Edward took the golden Welsh cross ( weighing 24lbs) with him to Scotland and had the Scots to swear an oath of fealty in its presence.
Unlike the stone of Scone, the _Croes Naid_ didn't survive - it was melted down in 1552 to be 'put to coyne' 😔

[GlidersByStefan]

Another interesting story, or urban myth, around the stone says that when the students from The University of Glasgow took the stone, they hid it in the Glasgow University Union building and a copy was left in Arbroath Abbey. The original stone, the story tells, still lies hidden in the walls of the GUU building. I remember hearing that story when I was an undergraduate at Glasgow.

[williamrobinson]

A surprising amount of historical info packed into this short film. Excellent, and beautifully made and presented. Impressive. Nice one Dan. 🌟👍

[yvonnemason]

The narration of the Stone splitting in two isn't quite accurate. The arson attack in 1914 was what broke it as the Stone was cracked into two pieces by the force of the blast that damaged the Coronation Chair, rather than the students' actions. The Abbey authorities chose not to make this information public and so, when Ian Hamilton and his companions pulled the Stone out of the Coronation Chair, the two pieces came apart. It was the smaller piece, roughly a quarter of the Stone's volume, that Ian and his female companion were keeping hidden when the policeman approached them outside the Abbey. I was a guide at Westminster Abbey in the 1990's and was one of the first to see the Chair without the Stone after the latter was taken back to Scotland.

[GreenYoshi]

Westminster Abbey is such a beautiful work of art. The sound of the choir in person must be heavenly ❤

[Sabhail_ar_Alba]

It was perhaps more importantly used to crown the Scots Kings ( something Dan Snow overlooked).

[andrewg.carvill]

There was a very similar stone at Tullyhogue in Ulster, on which the premier Gaelic clan chieftain of Ulster, The O'Neill, was inaugurated for nearly a thousand years. This ended with the conquest of Ulster in 1602, when the stone was smashed and scattered by the English forces under Lord Mountjoy, towards the end of the Nine Years war (1594-1603) which was the attempt by the last O'Neill (Aodh Mor) to re-conquer all of Ireland from the English. The smashing and scattering of the stone of Tullyhogue symbolized (and was intended to symbolize) the overthrow of the Gaelic order in Ireland. That the stone was smashed instead of being incorporated into the British throne like the stone of Scone has its own symbolic resonance, in that the Irish would never regard themselves, nor be regarded by the British, as being 'British' in the way the Welsh and the Scottish came to be. Maybe if an O'Neill had set his family for a century on the English Throne, as Welshman Henry Tudor and Scotsman James Stuart did, things would have turned out differently. Strange things, these stones.

[marlo]

Great Britain has a beautiful History and folklore 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
From a french woman 🇫🇷

[Gachain]

One thing is evident. The English took it from Scotland.

[agneskempis-cruz]

🙏❤️Thank you for sharing that history of the Stone of Schoon.... 😊, I've always been fascinated about Scotland ❤️, since i got to read about it in books in our grade school library...

[georgewolfiii]

What makes this stone special is that it was used by the Israelite patriarch Jacob, as a pillow, when he slept outside on the ground during the time he was running from his older brother Esau, who sought to kill him. As he slept, Jacob had a vision and God spoke to him. When he woke up the next morning, he consecrated the stone to God, and it became known as "Jacob's Pillow." The story is told in Genesis 28:10-22.

[jeremyglauert]

I believe it came from Egypt because the Scottish people come from princess Scotia, who was an Egyptian princess who after the murder of her father. She married a Greek aristocrat and went to Scotland

[TheBOFAcookie]

When the English invaded Scotland every man woman and child in Berwick was slaughtered. Runners travelled north to warn everyone what was coming their way which gave three or four days for the real stone to be hidden and a replica made of Perthshire sandstone . The original stone came from the Holy-iand not Perthshire. The monks were probably murdered as were so many

[johnbrereton]

Meanwhile the ancient English coronation stones lies out side the council offices of Kingston on Thames in Surrey.
On this stone King Æthelstan was crowned in Kingston in 925, King Eadred in 946, King Æthelred in 979 and many others . Yet unlike the Scottish stone of Scoon it lies untouch and un celebrated.

[twbarf]

The stone comes from Perthshire in Scotland. Established from this 1998 paper "A geological perspective on the Stone of Destiny
" By N. J. FORTEY, E. R. PHILLIPS, A . A. MCMILLAN and M. A. E. BROWNE British Geological Survey,

[eh]

The “roughly carved cross” is extremely dodgy, definitely in the eye of the beholder. The central rectangle — look how roughly that is marked out. It is so obviously just a rough series of chisel strikes to start carving out a recess. The “cross” id the first strip across that rectangle that was going to be carved out.
It’s bleedin’ obvious that this particular stone was marked out extremely roughly as a preliminary and never finished.

[daphnecardillo]

That stone belongs to the Judeo-Christian Heritage and rightly important during the British King’s coronation who is the head of the Anglican Church of England. Its significance is somewhat like that with the anointing of oil on a new spiritual head and steeped in Biblical tradition. Therefore no country should be using that stone to represent its sovereignty.

Rulers during the age of conquest and invasion have been taking things and people from other places as spoils of war. And in this age of enlightenment, historical artifacts have been gradually returned to their places of origin. So I suppose that each nation must only use objects that are Inherently from their own land to represent their sovereignty.

[johngibbs]

One good theory is that it was brought from Egypt by Scota, daughter of the dead Pharoah Akhnaten.😇

[eh]

There is in Scotland the conviction among many that the “returned” stone was a copy.

[v.g.r.l.]

The host is, as always, sympathetic and dynamic.