A Brief History
On July 3, 1996, Prime Minister John Major of the United Kingdom made an announcement most Scots would find long overdue. Major announced that the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland after being held in England since 1296.
Digging Deeper
Not to be confused with the delicious breakfast pastry, the stone gets its name from Scone Abbey in Scone, Scotland, where the red sandstone block once resided. A sacred relic, the stone has been used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish, English, and British monarchs. It has a cross carved on it and metal rings to aid in moving it.
So why did we call it the “Stone of Destiny?” Because this 335 lb. hunk of rock has several names, including “Jacob’s Pillow Stone,” the “Tanist Stone,” and in Scottish Gaelic, “clach-na-cinneamhain.”
The Stone of Scone now rests in Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, along with the Crown Jewels of Scotland.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What other famous stones can you think of?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hamilton, Ian. Stone of Destiny: The True Story. Birlinn, 2008.
Naples, Mark and David Bews. The Stone of Destiny: In Search of the Truth. Kindle, 2021.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by sarniebill1 of a replica of the Stone of Scone at Scone Palace, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
