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Dè a’ Ghàidhlig a th’ air The Stone of Destiny? Tha ceithir diofar ainmean oirre, a rèir an Fhaclair Bhig. Lia Fàil – seann ainm a tha cuideachd air clach ann an Èirinn. Clach-chrùnaidh na h-Alba ‘the coronation stone of Scotland’. Clach na Cinneamhain ‘the stone of destiny’. Agus Clach Sgàin ‘stone of Scone’. Tha i co-cheangailte ri Sgàin, faisg air Peairt. ʼS ann ann an Sgàin a bha seann rìghrean na h-Alba air an crùnadh oirre.

Chunnaic mi a’ Chlach dà thuras nam bheatha. An toiseach, ann an Abaid Westminster ann an Lunnainn. Bha i fo chathair-chrùnaidh Bhreatainn. Bha sin anns na seasgadan dhen linn a dh’fhalbh. Bha mi nam ghille òg. Mu chòig bliadhn’ deug roimhe, bha oileanaich Albannach air a’ Chlach a ‘shaoradh’ an sin. Thug iad air ais a dh’Alba i.

An dàrna turas a chunnaic mi i, ʼs ann am-bliadhna a bha e.  Bha mi anns an taigh-tasgaidh ùr ann am Peairt. 

Feumaidh sibh tiogaid fhaighinn airson a faicinn. Leigidh iad daoine a-steach a sheòmar sònraichte airson deich mionaidean. Sin far a bheil a’ chlach. Tha iad a’ sealltainn bhidio agus a’ dèanamh aithris air crùnadh nan seann rìghrean ann an Sgàin. 

Bha a’ Chlach air a goid bho Sgàin le Eideard I, Rìgh Shasainn. Bha sin ann an dà cheud deug, naochad ʼs a sia (1296). Bha i air a toirt a dh’Abaid Westminster. Bha rìghrean Shasainn air an crùnadh oirre. Bha i ann an Sasainn airson seachd ceud bliadhna. Bha i an uair sin air a gluasad air ais a dh’Alba – an toiseach a Chaisteal Dhùn Èideann. 

Cha b’ e sin a’ chiad turas a dh’aontaich na Sasannaich a’ Chlach a thilleadh a dh’Alba. Chaidh Cùmhnant Dhùn Èideann-Northampton a tharraing ri chèile ann an trì cheud deug, fichead ʼs a h-ochd (1328). Thug sin aithne do dh’Alba mar rìoghachd neo-eisimeileach. Ann an còrdadh co-cheangailte ris, dh’aontaich Rìgh Eideard III a’ Chlach a thilleadh.

Carson nach robh i air a tilleadh, ma-thà? A chionn ʼs gun do chuir gràisg ann an Lunnainn stad oirre. Agus dh’fhuirich i ann an Sasainn airson nan ceudan bhliadhnaichean eile.

What is the Gaelic for ‘The Stone of Destiny’? It has four different names according to the Faclair Beag. Lia Fàil – an old name that is also given to a stone in Ireland. Clach-chrùnaidh na h-Alba ‘the coronation stone of Scotland’. Clach na Cinneamhain ‘the stone of destiny’. And Clach Sgàin ‘stone of Scone’. It is connected to Scone, near Perth. It’s at Scone that the old kings of Scotland were crowned on it.

I saw [have seen] the Stone twice in my life. To begin with, in Westminster Abbey in London. It was beneath the British coronation chair. That was in the 1960s. I was a young lad. About fifteen years previously, Scottish students had ‘freed’ the Stone there. They took it back to Scotland.

The second time I saw it, it was this year. I was in the new museum in Perth.

You must get a ticket to see it. They let people into a special room for ten minutes. That’s where the Stone is. They show a video and describe the coronation of the old kings in Scone.

The Stone was stolen from Scone by Edward I, King of England. That was in 1296. It was taken to Westminster Abbey. The kings of England were crowned on it. It was in England for seven hundred years. It was then moved back to Scotland – initially to Edinburgh Castle.

That wasn’t the first time that the English agreed to return the Stone to Scotland. The Edinburgh-Northampton Treaty was drawn together in 1328. That recognised Scotland as an independent kingdom. In an agreement connected to it, King Edward III agreed to return the Stone.

Why was it not returned, then? Because a mob in London prevented it. And it remained in England for hundreds more years.