Looking back with Ian Scott: Falkirk district's links to the Stone of Destiny

The Stone of Destiny, which was beneath St Edward's Chair on which King Charles III was crowned, has links to the Falkirk district in the past.

It was my interest in history and tradition rather than a devotion to the monarchy that saw me perched before the TV on Saturday watching the events in Westminster Abbey.

But Falkirk bairns are never off duty and as the new King went through the solemn business of coronation my eyes searched for any connection with our district. In the same way that holidays abroad are often spent looking at cannons on the ramparts of castles looking for the Carron name plate, there always seems to be something. I was not disappointed because there below the seat of St Edward’s Chair where the King was to be crowned lay the Stone of Destiny brought south in 1296 by dear old Longshanks as he purloined the ancient symbols of Scotland. Taken from Scone to London it was said to be the stone on which the ancient Kings of Scotland were crowned and since then it has performed the same function for every monarch since Edward II in 1308.

And the Falkirk district connection? To explain that we need to look back to events in 1950 when four students with strong nationalist leanings decided to enter the Abbey on Christmas Eve and ‘rescue’ the stone and return it to its home in the north. They managed to drag it out though a large chunk broke off one corner. Both bits were lifted into a wee car and off it went up the A1 where it vanished from sight. There was a huge outcry and the Scottish police began to visit the homes and workshops of known nationalists in search of the missing treasure.

One of the men to receive an early call from the boys in blue was John Rollo who owned an engineering works in Bonnybridge. The stone had been delivered there by the students on New Year’s Eve and lay hidden in the workshop, though the broken bit was placed in the knee hole of Rollo’s office desk. When the sergeant arrived he was invited in and sat down at the desk with his feet resting on the stone. He was assured that the stone had not been anywhere near Bonnybridge and left none the wiser. John Rollo immediately called his contacts and insisted on the stone’s removal which happened the following night. It went to a Glasgow stonemason who joined the two bits together after inserting a brass tube containing a patriotic message, or so it was said.

John Rollo's Works in Bonnybridge where the Stone of Destiny spent some time in 1950 after four students 'rescued' it from Westminster Abbey.

Many months later after a tip off to the Press the stone was found on the High Altar of Arbroath Abbey and returned to London.

Another connection with our area is the strong link that existed over many years between the Redding Free Colliers and Ian Hamilton QC, one of the four students who retrieved the stone. He was an honorary brother of the Colliers and a great supporter until his death last year.

Of course there are all kinds of stories attached to the stone. Is it the real one? Did the ‘reivers’ make a new one or maybe several copies? I met the Scottish author Nigel Tranter on a number of occasions and he told me that in 1296, when a squad of English soldiers arrived at the Scone Abbey they were given the very stone with the iron rings that was in the coronation chair last Saturday. “So what was it ?” I asked Nigel. “The lid of a medieval septic tank” was his reply!