Plan for monument to 'Scotland's birthplace' blocked by landowner

AN ATTEMPT to mark the "birthplace of Scotland" is being thwarted by a peer who does not want tourists on his estate.

The Clan MacAlpine Society wants to commemorate King Kenneth MacAlpine’s historic role as the first King of Picts and Scots - a title he took in 843.

Historic Scotland and leading historians suggested Forteviot, near Perth, would be the most appropriate site, as it is known to have been Kenneth’s capital.

However, Lord Forteviot has blocked the plan, apparently concerned that it would "bring attention to the area".

Kenneth McAlpine, 46, a Californian accountant who is the president of the Clan MacAlpine Society, said: "[Forteviot] was the centre - political and religious. Everything was coming out from Forteviot. The decisions that formed Scotland took place in Forteviot.

"That poses some problems as Forteviot is on privately owned land. We’ve tried to communicate with the owner, Lord Forteviot, but he’s not been receptive to any sort of marker of that fashion. He doesn’t want to bring attention to the area."

In the 1990s, Lord Forteviot found himself at the centre of a long-running and bitter public row over the Dupplin Cross, which used to be on his estate.

It is thought the 10ft cross was erected by King Kenneth, or one of his sons, in the 9th century in dedication to Constantine, son of Fergus, who reigned as Pictish king from about 789 to 820. It was suffering badly from the effects of weathering and in 1996, Michael Forsyth, the then Secretary of State, ordered action to be taken to preserve it. Plans were drawn up to take it to the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh and Lord Forteviot reportedly struck a deal to receive a large inheritance tax break if the cross was taken into state ownership.

However, a pressure group was set up to campaign for the cross to remain in the area. It was ultimately successful and the cross is now in St Serf’s Church in Dunning, Perthshire.

Mr McAlpine said that the Dupplin Cross affair had created "a lot of negative attention which may contribute to [Lord Forteviot’s] shyness in wanting to be involved again".

But he said he felt some kind of memorial should be created to mark both the "birthplace of Scotland" as a nation and an important person in Scottish history.

He said he initially thought of Stirling, where the king is said to have won a great battle. However, this story is now thought to have been invented during the Victorian era. Instead, all the experts he had consulted had said that Forteviot was the place. "At Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle, you see Kenneth MacAlpine’s name is fairly prominent, but, outside that, many Scots don’t know who he was," he said.

"I think it’s less important that we have the exact, precise location as it is that a place is established to symbolise this is what happened - this is how it came about.

"It’s more important that the statement is made in a symbolic location for the Scottish people to say, ‘this is where it started’."

Alex Woolf, a historian at St Andrews University who has discussed the matter with Mr McAlpine, said Forteviot was the ideal site and he was unimpressed with the peer’s stance.

"It’s the obvious place - it’s the only place we know King Kenneth MacAlpine was closely associated with," he said.

Lord Forteviot failed to return calls from The Scotsman. But a source close to him said "after all the hoo-ha with the Dupplin Cross, you can understand why" he might be reluctant.

THE RISE OF A KING WHO UNITED THE NATION

KENNETH MacAlpine was born about 800AD.

Traditionally, he is said to have been born a Scot in their heartland of Dalriada.

At the time the kingdom was hard-pressed by the more dominant Picts, but their power was reduced by continual Viking raids. When the King of the Picts, Wrad, died in 842 there was a power struggle and Kenneth, by then King of the Scots, claimed the throne through his mother, who was a member of the Pictish royalty.

He is said to have seized the crown in 843 and later killed Drest, a Pictish rival, at Scone under a banner of truce. A Victorian historian also claimed Kenneth led a Scottish army to a devastating victory over the Picts, but this is thought to have been a story invented centuries after the period. King Kenneth set up his capital at Forteviot in Perthshire and also moved the relics of St Columba from the island of Iona to Dunkeld to protect them from the Vikings. Kenneth died in 858 at the Palace of Forteviot.

Recent historical research has challenged the traditional version of the Kenneth MacAlpine story. St Andrews University historian Alex Woolf claims Kenneth was actually a Pict, not a Scot, and that the Picts were not defeated in battle by a Scottish army, but gradually adopted Gaelic customs.