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Scone Palace, Scotland

The Moot Hill

The site of Scone Palace, near Perth in Scotland, is a traditional gathering place. There is a moot at Scone, a raised area on which leading people in the country now called Scotland used to meet to discuss important matters. The importance of a moot in social affairs has an echo in the phrase "a moot point" which describes some tricky topic which needs to be talked out. The moot at Scone for some reason became particularly important. It is thought that ancient Pictish people would gather here.

Norman Davies in The Isles describes how in the first half of the first millennium, Irish settlers crossed the Irish Sea to set up a colony in Scotland consisting of three settlements on Islay, Lorn and Kintyre. This colony was called Argyle, which means "the eastern Irish." People from Argyle, began to wander further afield into Scotland, coming up against Pictish natives. What happened then has been a source of confusion and misinformation ever since. But whatever happened, Scone seems to have been involved. The Irish settlers eventually gained an upper hand over the Picts, and then worked to minimise the Picts' importance in history. Hugh Trevor Roper in his book The Invention of Scotland describes how writers such as Hector Boece and George Buchanan took the history of Argyle back through time in an attempt to give Irish settlers historical precedence over Pictish natives. An oblong lump of rock associated with Scone, called, fittingly, the Stone of Scone was used to help do this. Early in the thirteenth century it was claimed that the mythical Stone of Scone came to Scotland from Spain via Ireland. The Stone was supposed to have made its journey to Scone in the fourth century, which meant this iconic rock suggested Irish kings of Scotland predated Pictish kings. What actually happened is not clearly understood. In Davies view, Picts and Irish slowly merged as a people, not primarily through fighting, but through marriage - the Pictish nobles had a habit of marrying their daughters to prominent foreigners. Trevor Roper seems to think more fighting was involved, and mentions the possibility of a treacherous banquet at Scone where Pictish leaders were murdered by their Irish hosts. Whatever really happened the Stone of Scone was used as a symbol and a propaganda tool.

 

 

Replica of the Stone of Scone on the Moot Hill

Whether through fighting, or marriage, or a combination of both, the Irish and Picts came to an accommodation. In the ninth century a chieftain named MacAlpin established a hereditary monarchy to rule Irish and Pictish populations of Scotland in unison, and fourteen male descendents ruled in succession until 1034, each one of them crowned sitting on the Stone of Scone, now also known as the Stone of Destiny, on the Moot Hill at Scone. But Scotland did not really have the unity this long standing dynasty might suggest. Highlands and Lowlands were virtually separate countries. The Stone of Scone was used to try and give the illusion of roots for a united Scotland running much deeper into the past than they actually did. The English king Edward I certainly realised the symbolic power invested in the Stone of Scone, and during his late thirteenth century wars with Scotland he carried the Stone off to Westminster Abbey. It remained there, placed in a special chair, on which every sovereign since has been crowned. In 1996 the Stone was returned to Scotland, and is kept in Edinburgh Castle, only returning to London for coronations. A replica of the stone in its original location has been placed on the Moot Hill. The Stone continues in its shaky role as propaganda tool in the service of nationalism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gate leading towards the site of Old Scone

Today there is a nineteenth century chapel on the Moot Hill, and a nineteenth century mansion nearby, created by remodelling a sixteenth century palace. This is the home of the Earl of Mansfield. Old Scone village which grew up near Scone Abbey was moved to allow landscaping around the nineteenth century mansion. A new village was built a few miles away in 1805. Virtually nothing now remains of Old Scone, except for a stone cross and some walls. Perhaps a village with people going about their ordinary lives didn't have sufficient gravitas for a site of national importance. But in the end people going about their ordinary lives is what really endures, beyond all the fluctuations of national identity. The nineteenth century saw national identity becoming increasingly powerful in Scotland. Walter Scott created the idea that different tartans were traditional wear for different Scottish clans, and James Macpherson invented a poet called Ossian, "the Gaelic Homer" to give the impression of Scottish cultural roots based in the mists of time. Perhaps we could look upon the rebuilding of Scone Palace, and the moving of an untidy little village as part of this trend, to create a national past that did not exist as it was later presented. This is a shame since Scone really is a site of human history, of different people meeting on a gentle hill, talking things out, and giving their leader a little supernatural help to keep everyone together.

 

 

 

 

Scone Palace

 

Address: Scone Palace, Perth, Scotland, PH2 6BD

Directions: Follow signs for Perth M90, and then signs to Scone Palace. Click here for an interactive map centred on Scone Palace

Opening Times: 1st April to 31st October, open daily 9.30am - 5.45pm, except Saturdays when last admission is 4pm.

November to April opening for grounds only, on Fridays, 10am - 4pm.

In the mansion building there is a large gift shop and a restaurant.

Access: Level access is possible to all state rooms in the house, the restaurant, and the toilets.

 

 

 

 

 

Contact:

telephone: 01738 552300

fax: 01738 552588

web site: http://www.scone-palace.co.uk/content/view/1/2/

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