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January 22, 2019 by Alexander Meldrum
The Palace of Scone
Scone Palace /'sku?n/ is a Category A listed historic house and 5 star tourism attraction near the village of Scone and the city of Perth, Scotland.
Built of red sandstone wit...The Palace of Scone
Scone Palace /'sku?n/ is a Category A listed historic house and 5 star tourism attraction near the village of Scone and the city of Perth, Scotland.
Built of red sandstone with a castellated roof, it is one of the finest examples of late Georgian Gothic style in the United Kingdom.
A place steeped in history, Scone was originally the site of an early Christian church, and later an Augustinian priory.
In the 12th century, Scone Priory was granted abbey status and as a result an Abbot's residence – an Abbot's Palace – was constructed.
It is for this reason (Scone's status as an abbey) that the current structure retains the name "Palace".
Scone Abbey was severely damaged in 1559 during the Scottish Reformation after a mob whipped up by the famous reformer, John Knox, came to Scone from Dundee.
Having survived the Reformation, the Abbey in 1600 became a secular Lordship (and home) within the parish of Scone, Scotland.
The Palace has thus been home to the Earls of Mansfield for over 400 years. During the early 19th century the Palace was enlarged by the architect William Atkinson.
In 1802, David William Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield, commissioned Atkinson to extend the Palace, recasting the late 16th-century Palace of Scone.
The 3rd Earl tasked Atkinson with updating the old Palace whilst maintaining characteristics of the medieval Gothic abbey buildings it was built upon, with the majority of work finished by 1808.
Landscaping work around the Palace was undertaken by John Claudius Loudon.
Loudon was, similarly to Atkinson, tasked with designing a landscape to remain in keeping with, as well as highlighting, the historic significance of Scone.
Scone was for nearly 1000 years the crowning-place of Scottish kings and the home of the Stone of Scone.
It is a site of immense historic significance. Further work was undertaken in 1842 to make Scone Palace ready for the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
The vast majority of this work was to the interior decor although did include the provision of running water a huge cost to the Earl.
Many of the original early 19th-century interior designs survive, including several ornately carved and vaulted ceilings.
Scone Palace is a 5-star tourism attraction. The State Rooms are open each year from April till the end of October. It is possible for groups to organize visits during the winter months.
The Palace grounds are also open to the public. The gardens include the famous David Douglas Pinetum plus a star-shaped maze.
The Palace also hosts multiple outdoor events including the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust's Scottish Game Fair, Rewind Festival, and the Farming of Yesteryear among many others.
The Ancient Kingdom of Scone
Scone was from at least the 9th century the crowning-place of the Kings of Scots and home to the Stone of Scone, more commonly referred to as the Stone of Destiny.
Kenneth MacAlpin (traditionally known as the first King of Scots), Shakespeare's Macbeth, Robert the Bruce, and Charles II number amongst the 38 kings of Scots inaugurated and crowned at Scone.
It was believed that no king had a right to reign as king of Scots unless he had first been crowned at Scone upon the Stone of Scone.
In the Middle Ages, the land was the site of a major Augustinian abbey, Scone Abbey, nothing of which now remains above ground level except detached architectural fragments.
Scone was also the site of the first Parliament of Scotland, or Council/Assembly. King Constantine II in 906 called for an assembly to meet at Scone.
The assembly was recorded in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba; Alba being the early name for the early medieval Kingdom of Scotland. The Chronicle records that:
King Constantine and Bishop Cellach met at the Hill of Belief near the Royal City of Scone and pledged themselves that the laws and disciplines of the faith, and the laws of churches and gospels, should be kept pariter cum Scottis.
Scone was thus the centre of power in the ancient Kingdom of Alba, doubling up as the site of both Scottish coronations and parliaments.
Further to this in medieval times Scone acted as a royal residence and hunting ground. Robert II would have spent most of his life calling Scone home.
He was eventually laid to rest in the Abbey itself, although his grave has never been located. A popular old saying suggests the significance of Scone's status in the Kingdom of Alba's, and later Scotland's, governance and rule:
As the Bell of Scone rang, So mote it be.
This saying has often been re-quoted as "When the Bell of Scone tolls, the law of the land has been made". It is a statement of the great significance of the ceremonies held at Scone, and the judgments made from a top the Moot Hill.
It is old sayings like this which frustrated historians, as the sayings clearly detail Scone's important role in Scottish history, and in the early formation of the Scottish nation.
The primary source of much of Scone's early history and modern reputation is reliant upon Scottish folklore.
An example of another piece of Scottish folklore which reminds us of Scone's position as the premier seat of power in the evolving early medieval Scottish nation is the Gaelic: Comhairle clag Sgàin:
An rud nach buin duit na bean dà. "Counsel of the bell of Scone, Touch not what is not thine own."
In Gaelic poetry Scone's association specifically with kings & king-making gave it various poetic epithets, for instance, Scoine sciath-airde, meaning "Scone of the High Shields", and Scoine sciath-bhinne, meaning "Scone of the Noisy Shields".
The "Noisy Shields" here refer to a folkloric ceremony in which magnates would gather at Scone for a Council.
As they entered the Great Hall each magnate in turn would hang their shield displaying their coats of arms on the walls before beating their weapons against them.
The mons placiti or Scone Moot Hill is the inauguration site of the Scottish Kings.
It is also called 'Boot Hill', possibly from an ancient tradition whereby nobles swore fealty to their king whilst wearing the earth of their own lands in their foot-bindings or boots,
or even by standing upon the earth that they had brought with them from their respective homelands (carrying the soil in their boots).
The tradition being that the Moot Hill, or rather 'Boot Hill', came into being as a result of this tradition of nobles bring a piece of their own lands to Scone.
The kings of Scots, themselves inaugurated upon the Moot Hill, were thus making during these ceremonies a hugely symbolic commitment to the people of Scotland, the Scots.
This commitment was made from atop a hill which, if one believes the tradition, represented all parts of the kingdom of Scots and thus allowed the King to make his oaths whilst standing symbolically upon all of Scotland.
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