SCONE, a parish of Perthshire, Scotland, containing Old Scone, the site of an historic abbey and palace, and New Scone, a modern village, 2 m. N. of Perth, near the left bank of the Tay. Pop. of parish (1931) 2,559. It became the capital of Pictavia, the kingdom of northern Picts, in succession to Forteviot. The Moot Hill, where the first national council of which we possess records was held (906), was known also as the Hill of Belief from the fact that here the Pictish king promulgated the edict regulating the Christian church. The abbey was founded in I I15 1 by Alexander I., but long before this date Scone had been a centre of ecclesiastical activity and the seat of a monastery. Kenneth is alleged to have brought the Stone of Destiny, on which the Celtic kings were crowned, from Dunstaffnage castle on Loch Etive, and to have deposited it in Scone, whence it was conveyed to Westminster abbey (where it lies beneath the coronation chair) by Edward I. in 1296. Most of the Scottish kings were crowned
at Scone, the last function being held on Jan. 1, 1651, when Charles II. received the crown. The abbey and the house of Scone were burned down by the Reformers in 1559, and next year the estates were granted to the Ruthvens. On the attainder of the family after the Gowrie conspiracy in 1600, the land passed to Sir David Murray of the Tullibardine line, who became 1st vis count Stormont (1621) and was the ancestor of the earl of Mans field, to whom the existing house belongs. Sir David completed in 1606 the palace which the earl of Gowrie had begun. The present palace, which dates from 1803 and stands in a beautiful park, contains several historic relics.