In either 1163 or 1164 King Malcolm IV described Scone Abbey as in principali sede regni nostri, "in the principal seat of our kingdom".

Moreover, the king was itinerant and had little permanent bureaucracy, so Scone's role was totally unlike that of a modern capital city.

The origins could be pre-Roman, as there is much evidence of a well-established and sophisticated Iron Age people flourishing in this part of Scotland.

Direct evidence however is lacking and so Scone's story is thought to begin in the wake of the Roman exit from Scottish history.

In the 12th century, various foreign influences prompted the Scottish kings to transform Scone into a more convincing royal centre.

This is strictly speaking correct, but it seems clear that this charter was simply a reaffirmation of Scone's status, and of the religious institutions there, rather than a sudden founding or establishment.

There is growing evidence that there had been an early Christian cult called the Culdees based at Scone dating from at least the 9th century and possibly earlier.

This "re-establishment" and drive to confirm Scone's status at the heart of the emerging Scottish kingdom and nation continued in 1124 when Alexander I of Scotland wrote to "all merchants of England" (omnibus mercatoribus Angliae) promising them safe passage and protection if they bring goods to Scone by sea to trade.

Using the River Tay as a water route into the heart of Scottish held territory throughout the 9th and 10th centuries, these raiders pillaged towns and villages as well as religious houses such as the abbey at Dunkeld.

It was this combination of factors that encouraged David I of Scotland to establish a new burgh at the nearest suitable location downstream of Scone, namely Perth.

Scotland's national relics and regalia were gifted to Westminster Abbey in honour of the English royal saint, Edward the Confessor.

[11] Certainly, if Scone was not associated with this kind of thing in Pictish times, the Scottish kings of later years made an effort to do so.

Apparently for this reason, when the Normanized David I of Scotland (Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim) went to Scone to be crowned there in the summer of 1124, he initially refused to take part in the ceremonies.

It suffered a fire in the twelfth century and was subject to extensive attacks during the First War of Scottish Independence including the theft of Scotland's most revered relic, the Stone of Scone.

The abbey became a popular place of pilgrimage for St Fergus, whose skull the Abbots kept as a relic in a silver casket by the altar.

Despite Scone's decline throughout the late medieval period, it gained some considerable fame for musical excellence through the composer Robert Carver.

In June 1559 the abbey was attacked by a reformist mob from Dundee having been whipped up into a frenzy by the great reformer John Knox.

The Murrays of Scone were Jacobite, and along with their Atholl cousins were strong supporters of the exiled Stuart Monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland.

Having spent six weeks in residence at Scone, James and the Jacobite army marched (retreated) north on 30 January to Montrose.

It was not until 1803 that the family, the Murrays of Scone (by then the Earls of Mansfield), began constructing another palace at the cost of £70,000, commissioning the renowned English architect William Atkinson.