The site held an early Christian church, then an Augustinian priory and abbey from 1114 to 1559. A mob led by John Knox damaged the abbey in 1559. Robert the Bruce was crowned at Scone in 1306, and Charles II in 1651.
David William Murray, the 3rd Earl of Mansfield, commissioned the current palace in 1802. The architect William Atkinson was asked to update the late 16th-century palace while keeping features of the medieval abbey buildings. The work was largely finished by 1807 and cost about £60,000. The style is Gothic Revival, with a castellated roof, in red sandstone.
It is the ancestral seat of the Earls of Mansfield and is open to the public. Its grounds were the first place in Britain where Douglas fir was introduced. John Claudius Loudon worked on the landscaping.
Comments