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Field Visit
Date March 1990
Event ID 1102527
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1102527
In 1114 x 15 Alexander I founded an Augustinian priory at Scone. The dedication of the church to the Trinity has been taken to suggest that there was already a Culdee church at Scone, but this is unverified. In 1164 the priory was elevated to the status of an abbey, within which the 'Stone of Destiny' is said to have been kept until its removal in 1291 by Edward I.
Although no structural remains of the priory church or abbey survive, it is believed that the church probably stood to the S of Boot Hill and W of the present graveyard (NO12NW 9.02 and 9.15, respectively), and that the monastic cemetery (unless covering two separate areas) probably lay between the priory church and Boot Hill. This appears to be confirmed by the author of the Statistical Account who notes 'the vestiges of the old abbey church' about '100 yards due east from the south east corner of the house'. Similarly, the author of the New Statistical Account notes the discovery, in 1841-5, 'between the present palace and the church-yard' of part of the cemetery (NO12NW 9.04). It is also recorded, whilst making alterations to the garden terraces to the S of the present graveyard (NO12NW 9.15), that workmen came upon 'what may have been the foundations of the monastery. One apartment, which seemed to be a sort of cell... was surrounded by stone seats, about 15 inches broad, and might be from 10 feet to 12 feet in dimension'.
In 1559, both the abbey and palace are said to have been burnt by the Reformers, but no parish church comes on record until 1624. This new church is thought to have stood on the Boot Hill (NO12NW 9.02) but the topography of the present graveyard (NO12NW 9.15), together with the disposition of 17th- and 18th-century gravestones, suggests that this area, too, is the site of a church. It is likely that this is the abbey church (part of which may have remained in use between 1559 and 1624) and that the conventual buildings lay to the S, accounting for the discovery of structural remains in the garden terrace on the S side of the graveyard.
Architectural fragments from the abbey are grouped at various points around the policies (NO 1164 2649, 1164 2652, 1165 2655 and 1169 2649). These include a very fine Romanesque cubic capital (probably from a door or window of the earlier priory church which was burnt in 1166), a double-cap (of 12th- or 13th-century date, probably from the cloister arcade), and fragments of tracery mullions, vaulting bosses, and arch- and rib-mouldings of 13th- to 14th-century date, together with a stone sarcophagus and the inscribed cover-slab of Abbot Mar (NO12NW 9.04). Other mouldings and masonry fragments are incorporated into the gateway (NO12NW 9.07) and precinct walls on the N drive (at NO 1155 2664), while some have travelled further afield (for which, see NO22NW 42.01). According to the Statistical Account, the pattern of chance discovery of foundation-stones has indicated that the abbey precincts enclosed an area of 12 acres (4.8ha).
Visited by RCAHMS (IMS) March 1990.
Liber ecclesiae de Scone; Statistical Account (OSA); New Statistical Account (NSA); W F Skene 1871.
