Scone (village, Scotland)

Scone (village, Scotland), village in the Perth and Kinross District, Tayside Region, central Scotland, near the Tay River, consisting of the communities of Old Scone and New Scone, near Perth. According to tradition, Old Scone was made the capital of the Picts in the 8th century. In 843 Kenneth I MacAlpin, the first king of the Picts and Scots, is said to have brought here the Stone of Destiny (or Stone of Scone). The Scottish kings were crowned on the stone until 1296, when Edward I, king of England, took it to Westminster Abbey in London. The stone remained there for the next seven centuries, apart from a period in 1950 when it was removed by Scottish nationalists and returned to Scotland; it was recovered four months later. In 1996 the stone was again returned to Scotland by an act of the British government. Even without the stone, Scottish sovereigns continued to be crowned at Scone, the last coronation being that of Charles I in 1651 during his exile from England. Population (1991) 4,533.