The Stone of Scone (; Scottish Gaelic: An Lia Fàil, meaning Stone of Destiny, also called clach-na-cinneamhuinn; Scots: Stane o Scone) is an oblong block of red sandstone that was used in the coronation of Scottish monarchs until the 13th century when it was seized by Edward I during the First War of Scottish Independence and taken to England. Thereafter, it was used in the coronation of English and later British monarchs.
It is considered an ancient symbol of the Scottish monarchy and the Kingdom of Scotland, with its first recorded use being in 1249 for the coronation of Alexander III of Scotland. The Stone measures 26 by 16+3⁄4 by 10+1⁄2 inches (66 cm × 43 cm × 27 cm) and weighs approximately 336 lb (152 kg; 24 st). A cross is roughly incised on one surface, and an iron ring at each end aids with transport. Monarchs sat on the Stone of Scone itself, until a wooden platform was added to the Coronation Chair in the 17th century.
The artefact was originally kept at the Scone Abbey, now ruined, in Scone, near Perth. In 1296, the forces of Edward I of England captured it during Edward's invasion of Scotland. The Stone has been used in the coronation of English and British monarchs for over 500 years. In 1996, the stone was returned to Scotland, and kept in Edinburgh Castle with the Honours of Scotland. The stone remains property of the Crown, with Crown Estate Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government responsible for the stone in the rights of the monarch. It is transported to London for use at coronations under the supervision of the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. Since March 2024, it has been on permanent public display in Perth Museum, Perth, Scotland.
In the 14th century the English cleric and historian Walter of Guisborough identified the previous location of the Scottish coronation stone as the monastery of Scone, three kilometres (two miles) north of Perth:
Various theories and legends exist about the stone's history prior to its placement in Scone. One story concerns Fergus, son of Erc, the first King of the Scots (r. c. 498 – 501) in Scotland, whose transport of the Stone from Ireland to Argyll, where he was crowned on it, was recorded in Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, a 15th-century chronicle. Some versions identify the stone brought by Fergus with the Lia Fáil used at Tara for inaugurating the High Kings of Ireland.
Other traditions contend that the Lia Fáil remains at Tara. Inis Fáil, "The Island of Destiny", is one of the traditional names of Ireland. Other legends place the origins of the Stone in Biblical times and identify it as the Stone of Jacob, taken by Jacob from Bethel while on the way to Haran (Genesis 28:10–22). This same Stone of Jacob was then supposedly taken to ancient Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah.
Contradicting these legends, geologists have proven that the stone taken by Edward I to Westminster is a "lower Old Red Sandstone", which was quarried in the vicinity of Scone. Doubts over the authenticity of the stone at Westminster exist: a blog post by retired Scottish academic and writer of historical fiction Marie MacPherson shows that they date back at least two hundred years.
A letter to the editor of the Morning Chronicle, dated 2 January 1819, states:
On the 19th of November, as the servants belonging to the West Mains of Dunsinane-house, were employed in carrying away stones from the excavation made among the ruins that point out the site of Macbeth's castle here, part of the ground they stood on suddenly gave way, and sank down about six feet, discovering a regularly built vault, about six feet long and four wide. None of the men being injured, curiosity induced them to clear out the subterranean recess, when they discovered among the ruins a large stone, weighing about 500 lb [230 kg], which is pronounced to be of the meteoric or semi-metallic kind. This stone must have lain here during the long series of ages since Macbeth's reign. Beside it were also found two round tablets, of a composition resembling bronze. On one of these two lines are engraved, which a gentleman has thus deciphered. – "The sconce (or shadow) of kingdom come, until Sylphs in air carry me again to Bethel." These plates exhibit the figures of targets for the arms. From time immemorial it has been believed among us here, that unseen hands brought Jacob's pillow from Bethel and dropped it on the site where the palace of Scoon now stands. A strong belief is also entertained by many in this part of the country that it was only a representation of this Jacob's pillow that Edward sent to Westminster, the sacred stone not having been found by him. The curious here, aware of such traditions, and who have viewed these venerable remains of antiquity, agree that Macbeth may, or rather must, have deposited the stone in question at the bottom of his Castle, on the hill of Dunsinane (from the trouble of the times), where it has been found by the workmen. This curious stone has been shipped for London for the inspection of the scientific amateur, in order to discover its real quality.
Dunsinane Hill has the remains of a late prehistoric hill fort, and this has historical associations with Macbeth, but no remains dating to the 11th century have been identified on the hill.
In 1296, during the First Scottish War of Independence, Edward I of England took the stone as spoils of war and removed it to Westminster Abbey, where it was fitted into a wooden chair – known as the Coronation Chair or King Edward's Chair – on which most subsequent English and then British sovereigns have been crowned. Edward I sought to claim the status of the "Lord Paramount" of Scotland, with the right to oversee its King.
Some cast doubt over whether the real stone was captured by Edward I. The Westminster Stone theory posits that the monks at Scone Palace hid the real stone in the River Tay, or buried it on Dunsinane Hill, and that the English troops were tricked into taking a substitute. Some proponents of this theory claim that historic descriptions of the stone do not match the present stone.
In the 1328 Treaty of Northampton between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, England agreed to return the captured stone to Scotland; rioting crowds prevented it from being removed from Westminster Abbey. The stone remained in England for another six centuries. When James VI of Scotland assumed the English throne as James I of England, he was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the stone. For the next century, the Stuart kings and queens of Scotland once again sat on the stone – but at their coronation as kings and queens of, and in, England.
On 11 June 1914, as part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign of 1912–1914, suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union planted a bomb loaded with metal bolts and nuts to act as shrapnel next to the Coronation Chair and Stone; no serious injuries were reported in the aftermath of the subsequent explosion despite the building having been busy with 80–100 visitors, but the deflagration blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair and broke the Stone in half – although this was not discovered until 1950, when four Scottish nationalists broke into the church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland. Two days after the Westminster Abbey bombing, a second suffragette bomb was discovered before it could explode in St Paul's Cathedral.
The possibility that the Coronation Chair could be damaged or destroyed by German air raids during the Second World War resulted in it being moved to Gloucester Cathedral for the duration of the war. Concerns about the propaganda implications of the Stone falling into German hands led to it being hidden behind ancient lead coffins in a burial vault under Abbot Islip's Chapel, situated off the north ambulatory of the abbey.
Other than the Dean, Paul de Labilliere and the Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey, Charles Peers, only a few other people knew of its hiding place. Worried that the secret could be lost if all of them were killed during the war, Peers drew up three maps showing its location. Two were sent in sealed envelopes to Canada, one to the Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who deposited it in the Bank of Canada's vault in Ottawa. The other went to Albert Edward Matthews, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, who stored his envelope in the Bank of Montreal in Toronto. Once he had received word that the envelopes had been received, Peers destroyed the third map, which he had been keeping at his bank.