I’ll Have a Scone at Scone Palace, Please.

Just north of Edinburgh is the lovely Scottish city of Perth, and near that fair city there is a town and palace named Scone.  Never heard of it, you say? Well, dear reader, it holds a significant place in history, not just for Scotland, but for all of the United Kingdom. But first, a lesson in pronunciation—“Scone,” the name of the town and palace, is pronounced “Skoon” as a rhyme for “spoon.” There is much history behind how that came to be but, the bottom line is, it’s “Skoon” and only “Skoon,” thank you very much.

Scone village was the place where Scottish kings were crowned as far back as the 9^thcentury. To date, 38 such events have happened there. As far back as 906 there are records of King Constantine II calling for a gathering in Scone of all of the nobles. Scone is mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth. Robert the Bruce was crowned king in Scone, as was Charles II.

The Stone of Scone © 2018 englandforallreasons.com

Legend has it that one cannot be the monarch over Scotland unless one is crowned while sitting on the Stone of Scone, or Stone of Destiny. One other tradition over those centuries was that when other kings, noblemen and lords of the clans were asked to pledge faithfulness to the king of Scotland, rather than the King undertaking to visit them to obtain such pledges, the noblemen would come to Scone to pledge, bringing the soil of their homelands there in their boots so that they could stand on their home soil to pledge to the king. Over time, that soil built up into what is called “Moot Hill” or “Boot Hill.”

Moot Hill © 2018 englandforallreasons.com

Today, on Moot Hill, is a duplicate of the Stone of Destiny (the original is in Edinburgh, in the castle there), and a small chapel. On her Coronation Day in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain—which includes Scotland—sat on the Stone of Destiny which had been placed under the wooden throne for the historic ceremony. King Charles III also followed that same traditiion at his Coronation.

In that village of Scone was a church that later became an abbey. In that abbey they built an Abbot’s home (leader of the abbey) that was properly called the Abbot’s Palace. When the abbey was attacked by the forces of John Knox in 1559 and sacked, the attackers destroyed most of the Abbey. What little remained were some outbuildings. The land was confiscated from the church and given to Lord Ruthven, the Earl of Gowrie. The Earl rebuilt the Abbot’s Palace and named it Scone Palace. The Earls descendants, however, were charged with treason By King James VI and their property passed to Sir David Murray of Gospetrie, the 1^stLord Scone, who was one of the most loyal followers of James. Scone Palace is now owned and lived in by the 7th Earl of Mansfield and his family.

The building we see today was built in 1808 and is a stately Georgian structure, as you can see. The home is open to visitors, as are the grounds. In years past, visitors arriving at the Palace proceeded through a lovely, arched gate onto a long driveway to the front of the Palace.  Queen Victoria, who arrived for a one-night visit on her way to Balmoral Castle, found that her coach would not fit through the arched gate, so a separate road was constructed for her arrival. That road, the Queen’s Gate, is how tourists arrive today.  Victoria’s visit was planned for three years and cost the equivalent of £3M in today’s economy—one night, £3M! Her bedroom is on display exactly as she left it after the single visit.

One more recent reference to Scone was the movie, Belle, the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Lindsay, a ship’s captain, and Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies. Her father brought her to England and turned her over to William Murray, the 1^stLord Mansfield, who was his uncle, for her to be raised. Lord Mansfield was also raising Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose mother had died. Apparently the two girls were of a similar age and were treated equally by the Murrays. Belle was well-educated and upon the death of her father, was clearly and irrefutably declared a freewoman and his daughter. Dido would have visited Scone with the Murrays, as the property had passed to Lord Mansfield at that time. Eventually Dido married, had three children and died in 1804 at the age of 42.

The Scone of Scone © 2018 englandforallreasons.com

One last thing. Everywhere you go as a tourist in the UK there will be a tearoom. Not usually very fancy, but it will serve tea, sandwiches and sometimes hot food. Scone Palace is no exception and, in that tea room scones were served, so we just had to do it. Yes, we had a scone in Scone.

(The top picture is of the Scone Palace. © 2018 englandforallreasons.com)