Is the Stone of Destiny sitting in Edinburgh Castle a fake?

Published on Saturday 6 September 2008 00:24

FRESH confusion over the authenticity of the Stone of Destiny emerged yesterday after a mystery man claimed to have found the "real" relic in a hidden cliff cave.

The anonymous claims centre on a second cave said to exist close to where a lifeboat crew discovered a cave house on the Arbroath coastline last month.

A local man, who has refused to be identified, has come forward to declare he discovered the stone six years ago inside a hidden cave covered by a steel plate and hidden by grass.

However, experts last night said the Stone of Destiny in Edinburgh Castle was the genuine article.

The unnamed man has insisted he discovered the two caves six years ago after reading an old history book about monks and their secret hideaways.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, entered the debate over the Stone of Destiny in June when he said he was convinced the one being looked after by Historic Scotland was a medieval fake.

He made the claim just before Stone of Destiny, a film about the celebrated theft of the stone from Westminster Abbey by four Scottish students in 1950, was unveiled at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Now there is fresh intrigue over the Arbroath man's claims that he and his friends used ropes and a steel beam to lift the "real" stone up from a secret hiding place – and that he has no intention of handing it over.

A hidden cave house was discovered by a lifeboat crew last month halfway up a 120ft sheer cliff face on the coast. A rope ladder, bolted to the side of a narrow cleft in the cliff face, led to a wooden door painted to match the colours of the cliff and fitted perfectly to the shape of the cave's entrance.

The Arbroath man, who approached his local newspaper, the Arbroath Herald, with his claims, said he and a few friends had removed the stone from the second cave 18 months ago, but only decided to go public with the story after news of the discovery of the other cave emerged.

He said: "The story started when I read a book belonging to my mother, which is about 150 years old. It is about Scotland and monks and their caves.

"I was very interested so I decided to go along to the cliffs and have a look. This was about six years ago.

"I found the (hidden cave house] , but decided to keep it a secret. I only told one or two friends who also go sea angling.

"I was trailing up and down the coast and came across a gravestone. Nearby, under the grass, I found another tunnel and that's where the second cave is, under a steel plate.

"It was loose so I lifted it up and that was where I found the stone, wrapped in the sheet it's still in."

He said the stone was about 3ft long by 2ft wide and 16in deep, and weighed about 500lb. It is made of yellow sandstone and still has obvious chisel marks on the surface. It has a square pattern chiselled into the top and hoops attached to the sides.

The finder added: "The cave is about the same size as the other one, with a good outlook to sea, but is not so obvious because of the way the grass and vegetation has grown down over it. You cannot see it at all.

"I'm sure climbers will have gone over it, but it is so well hidden that they just have no idea it is there. It is exactly the same idea as the other cave, but different inside, which is just the bare red sandstone. There is no rope ladder for access, so you actually have to climb the cliff."

Ian Hamilton, one of the four students who carried out the daring Westminster raid, said: "I hear stories like this all the time and to be honest I'm now heartily sick of the Stone of Destiny. It's really a matter for Historic Scotland to investigate if they want to."

Last night, a spokeswoman for Historic Scotland told The Scotsman: "We remain confident that all the evidence points to the fact that the stone on display at Edinburgh Castle is the same as the one held at Westminster Abbey for 700 years and the same one removed to the orders of Edward I in 1296."