Today marks the 60th anniversary of the infamous theft of one of Scotland’s iconic symbols.
On Christmas Day 1950, the nation woke to the news that the Stone of Destiny had been swiped from its resting place under King Edward’s Chair at Westminster Abbey.
Top detectives flooded the streets of London hoping to catch the culprits, thought to be a band of organised criminals little did anyone know it was four patriotic young Scots.
Students Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon, Alan Stuart and Kay Matheson hatched a heroic plan to “repatriate” the ancient stone, which was used for the coronation of Scottish kings at Scone Palace before being captured as “spoils of war” by Edward I in 1296.
The group arrived at the abbey under the cover of darkness and opened a side door with a crowbar.
When a passing policeman looked slightly suspicious of Ian and Kay loitering by a getaway car, they started kissing, convincing him they were a courting couple.
Already damaged by a suffragette handbag bomb in 1914, the 150kg sandstone block reportedly split in two when it fell to the ground during the raid.
After hiding the larger portion with travellers in Kent for a few days, the self-proclaimed nationalists managed to smuggle it past roadblocks in the boot of a friend’s car.
The smaller piece was rescued a short time later and the artefact was then passed to a Glasgow politician who arranged for it to be professionally repaired by Glasgow stonemason Robert Gray.
The British Government ordered a major search for the stone, which proved unsuccessful, and four months later the custodians left it on the altar of the ruined Arbroath Abbey, where the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320.
Once the authorities were informed about its whereabouts, the “Scone Stone” was returned south of the border but rumours soon started to circulate that it was a fake.
Ian Hamilton, who went on to become a top lawyer, refused to speak about his role until a feature film about the heist was released in 2008.HomecomingHe vowed he never wanted to set eyes on the stone but broke that promise when he was asked by First Minister Alex Salmond to give a talk as part of Homecoming Scotland.
Vernon died five years ago, Matheson is in a care home and Stuart shuns public attention.
There are various conspiracy theories regarding the exact location of the real stone.
On St Andrew’s Day in 1996, 10,000 people lined the Royal Mile to watch it make its way to Edinburgh Castle, its new official seat.
However some claim the original is buried in a secret Highland Perthshire location, less than 50 miles from Scone.
Back in 2007, a local photographer phoned The Courier’s Perth office to say he had been contacted by an anonymous source 10 years previously to take snaps of the “true symbol of Scotland.”
One dark night in 1996, the photographer ventured out to an undisclosed spot to record the stone being moved from one location to another.’Real Stone'”If anyone else had called me so late I might have had a few choice words for them but I felt I just had to listen,” he said at the time.
“I was told I was urgently required to document the moving of the real stone apparently it was being moved to keep it safe.”
He continued, “It really was quite an awe-inspiring sight. Of course, everyone has heard tales of the stone being swapped but I was assured this was the real one and I believed it.
“I was told the exact whereabouts of the stone are passed down from father to son. They will do anything to keep it safe.”
A political stunt also had tongues wagging this year. On April 29, days before the general election, staff at Scone Palace contacted Tayside Police to report the theft of the replica Stone of Destiny, which sits at the original coronation site on Moot Hill.
The pranksters placed another ancient rock in its place, which was rumoured to be the real thing.’Mystical ideas’Lord Stormont, whose family own the palace, said, “There have been some mystical ideas over the years so you also can’t discount the fact that someone maybe did think they had found the ‘real’ stone and wanted to put it back in its rightful place.
“The fact that the intruders went to the trouble of chipping off all the surrounding mortar, and bringing in a fake stone of similar size, which would have required at least four people to lift it, suggests that a high degree of planning went into the escapade.”
Palace administrator Elspeth Bruce said the myth and mystery surrounding the stone entices tourists from across the world to visit Scone.
“The conspiracy theories which shroud the famous Stone of Scone remain as strong as an attraction to Scone Palace as ever,” she said.
“This iconic symbol has survived centuries of debate and intrigue and doubtlessly will continue to do so for future generations.
“Arguably, we take much of our own local history for granted without perhaps appreciating the true wealth of it.”
The palace is planning an exhibition on the story of the stone which is also known as Jacob’s Pillow Stone, the Tanist Stone, and in Scottish Gaelic clach-na-cinneamhuin next year.