Scone
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Scone shown within Perth and Kinross | |
Population | 4,430 |
OS grid reference | NO134259 |
Council area | |
Lieutenancy area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Perth |
Postcode district | PH2 |
Dialling code | 01738 |
Police | Scottish |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
EU Parliament | Scotland |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
Scone (i/ˈskuːn/) (Scottish Gaelic: Sgàin; Scots: Scuin) is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The medieval village of Scone, which grew up around the monastery and royal residence, was abandoned in the early 19th century when the residents were removed and a new palace was built on the site by the Earl of Mansfield. Hence the modern village of Scone, and the medieval village of Old Scone, can often be distinguished.
Both sites lie in the historical province of Gowrie, as well as the old county of Perthshire. Old Scone was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Alba (Scotland). In the Middle Ages it was an important royal centre, used as a royal residence and as the coronation site of the kingdom's monarchs. Around the royal site grew the town of Perth and the Abbey of Scone.
In Gaelic poetry Scone's association with kings and king-making gave it various poetic epithets, for instance, Scoine sciath-airde, "Scone of the High Shields", and Scoine sciath-bhinne, "Scone of the Noisy Shields". Scotland itself was often called or shown on maps as the "Kingdom of Scone" (or "Sconiana"), Righe Sgoinde. A comparison would be that Ireland was often called the "Kingdom of Tara", Tara, like Scone, serving as a ceremonial inauguration site. Scone was therefore the closest thing the Kingdom of Scotland had in its earliest years to a "capital". In either 1163 or 1164 King Malcolm IV described Scone Abbey as in principali sede regni nostri, "in the principal seat of our kingdom". By this point, however, the rule of the King of the Scots was not confined to the Kingdom of Scotland, which then only referred to Scotland north of the river Forth. The king also ruled in Lothian, Strathclyde and the Honour of Huntingdon, and spent much of his time in these localities too. Moreover, the king was itinerant and had little permanent bureaucracy, so that any idea that Scone was a "capital" in the way the word is used today can make very little sense in this period. But in the medieval sense Scone can in many ways be called the "capital of Scotland" and was often referred to as "the Royal City of Scone". Many comparisons can be drawn between the City of Westminster and the "City" of Scone. Both were medieval epicenters of Royal power. Both were located beside crossing points of major rivers - the highways of the medieval period - and in geographic locations central to their respective kingdoms.