Dunkeld Lectern

It stands approximately 1.6 metres high and takes the form of a large eagle or phoenix with outspread wings,[3][4] with the bird perched on an orb supported by a turned shaft.

In 1984, over 400 years after it was first taken to England, the lectern was stolen from the church by Scottish nationalist group Siol nan Gaidheal and it did not reappear until May 1999, when it was anonymously delivered to Netherbow Arts Centre.

[1][2] It is alleged that George Crichton, abbot at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh from 1515 to 1524, was presented with the lectern at the time of the visit of Pope Alexander VI to commemorate his abbacy.

[3] In 1642, the English Civil War began, and in August 1643, laws were introduced authorising an increase in destruction of religious objects; continuity of the St Stephen's parish registers is broken perhaps hinting at the turbulent nature of those times.

[3][6] Over 100 years later in 1748 or 1750, the Montagu family tomb in the chancel of St Stephen's church was opened for an interment and the lectern was found lying in the grave.

[3][5][6] From as early as the eighteenth century,[2] Scottish academics, clergy and patriots sought the return of the lectern; their requests were rebuffed by the St Stephen's vicar.

In November that year, an approach from the Lord Provost of Edinburgh was rebuffed by the vicar of St Stephen's, the Rev Marcus R. Southwell.

[6] It is believed that the group hid the lectern in a west Highland grave for the 15 years following the theft, indicating that it would remain there until a Scottish parliament was established.

[11] They provided a photograph and wrote that "this piece of our heritage is here to stay... patriotic Scots have asked for the eagle to be returned... to its rightful home.

Dialogue between all parties was aided by the activities of Inverness Press and Journal reporter John Vass as well as Reverend John Pragnell,[citation needed] the Netherbow council's convenor David Maxwell, and David Caldwell of the NMS have all been credited with negotiating between all parties to encourage the safe and legal return of the lectern.

Member of the European Parliament for the Highlands and Islands and later Scottish National Party leader Winnie Ewing, who has been identified as a key mediator in later negotiations,[4] also made appeals for the lectern's return when interest picked up again in the late 1990s.

[10] On Friday 30 April, after being missing for 15 years and less than a week before the first elections to the new Scottish Parliament,[2] the original Dunkeld Lectern was delivered undamaged to the hallway of the Arts Centre by an anonymous courier without a message.

"[3] Mark Jones, who was director of National Museums Scotland when the lectern was rediscovered in 1999, put forward in 2014 that because "the lectern originated not in Scotland but in Italy", because it was "associated with St Stephen’s Church, St Albans for more than 400 years [...] much longer than with Dunkeld (less than 20 years)", and because eagle lecterns are usually "found in churches north of London, in East Anglia and central England, and it seems probable that they were made in England or the Low Countries", it must have been "Sir Richard Lee’s putative pillage, that motivated the Church and others to work for, or accept, its return to Scotland, rather than anything particularly Scottish about the object.