Search for the Stone of Destiny

This volume sets out to trace the story of the symbolic Stone of Destiny.

With the help of historians and archaeologists, they suggest how the Stone might be recognized, where it might be found and its role as witness to dreams, coronation, kings, queens and conquest. Beneath the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey there used to lie a piece of rock known as the Stone of Destiny, the Coronation Stone or the Stone of Scone.

It lay there since Edward I took it from Scotland in 1296, up until its return in 1996.

In the 1950s and 70s, Scottish students risked their liberty in attempts to return it north of the border.

But was the real stone ever returned to Westminster? And what was it that was returned with so much fanfare in 1996?Some experts believe this stone is a fake and that the true Stone of Destiny upon which medieval Scottish kings were crowned is still at large.

Could it be true that the monarchs crowned in Westminster since the 13th century have sat on little more than a builder's reject?

Why now, in the 1990s, do archaeologists and others hunt for this symbol of Scottish nationhood?

Several other stones are kept under conditions of great secrecy in Scotland.

Could one of them be the real thing?Legends about the old Stone of Destiny go back to biblical times and the legend of Jacob's pillow.

Was it really a meteorite? Was such a stone taken to Ireland by the Phoenicians?

Does the importance begin and end merely as a curious piece of folklore, or does it have a deeper significance in Scottish history?