Public responses to my research on the untold and largely unknown fragmentation of the Stone of Destiny, and the lives of these fragments, is enriching and transforming the Stone’s story. It is doing so in some quite unexpected ways. Bursts of widespread media interest since January 2025, including when the research was published in Antiquaries
Since 1951, the people of Arbroath have experienced a right-royal pageant of Stone of Destiny replicas. This attractive Angus fishing port, the ruins of its medieval Abbey such a distinctive feature of its skyline, has a history with multiple versions of the Stone of Destiny, including the historic original. But the story about these is
Walking down Woodlands Road in Glasgow last week, I spotted that the famous Arlington Bar has had a makeover and its ‘Stone of Destiny’ has been redisplayed (the image above shows what it used to look like externally). Inside the revamped pub, it has now been moved to a central corner where it’s much easier
My illustrated paper on the ‘discovery’ and significance of the many fragments of the Stone of Destiny has today been published online by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries of London. It’s the first peer-reviewed output of the research funded by the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust, yet was an unexpected
Sharing Stone stories is just beginning, and includes this short video. The stories I can tell – whether to the public or in academic contexts – are continuing to emerge as I learn more (not least from the public), or draw conclusions from other research data that I have collected during my project. I gave
Photo: fragment of Stone of Destiny now in Australia (c) Queensland Museum. Further details below This blog provides a little key information behind the news stories that have been widely published in the media on 17 and 23 January 2025. I am in the midst of publishing research that relates to tiny fragments that I
My aim in this blog is to give you a sense of public responses to the media’s interest, summarised here, and the call that was made in the media for people with information about any fragments of the Stone to share their stories with me. A summary of my story about the 34 fragments stemming
I’m using this blog to share the extensive media interest that has arisen in this project, and will update it periodically (last revised 24 April 2026). The focus of the interest is 34 fragments generated during the repair of the broken Stone in 1951, before it was returned to the authorities at Arbroath Abbey, and
In this photograph, taken at his 1952 graduation, you see Ian Hamilton. As a Glasgow University student he had the idea for, masterminded and undertook the removal of the Stone of Scone / Destiny from Westminster Abbey in December 1950. He was motivated by the political agenda of the man on the right, John MacCormick.
Readers of ‘My life is in pieces – new lives for the Stone of Destiny‘ will already know that not quite all the Stone of Destiny is in Perth. I don’t just mean the wee fragment gifted to Alex Salmond in 2008 that hit the headlines in January 2024. Yes, there are geological samples; one
Theme by the University of Stirling