I CONGRATULATE Rosemary Goring on her article (“Romance of the Stone should see it returned to its fitting home”, The Herald, March 21), but I have one clarification. She states that Ian Hamilton and his colleagues “stole” the Stone.
It was agreed in the Treaty of Northampton in 1328 that the Stone of Destiny would be returned to Scotland but that did not happen. Ian Hamilton and his friends repossessed stolen goods.
The suggestion that it be returned to Perth is apposite; any argument that this would leave an empty space in the Honours of Scotland can be answered by transferring in another meaningful relic, the Coronation ampulla of gold which held the sacred anointing oil for the coronations in Edinburgh of King Charles I and King Charles II. This is currently discreetly located in the National Museum of Scotland, “wasting its sweetness on the desert air”.
Doubts as to the actual provenance of the Stone still exist (Letters, March 22) but legend has it that wherever the Stone was that would be the seat of government. The Stone which was in Westminster Abbey was returned on November 30, 1996, Labour won the General Election of 1997, and a Scottish Parliament was agreed to in a referendum in 1999.
Events continue apace.
Jim Lynch,
42 Corstorphine Hill Crescent, Edinburgh.
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