Scone Palace is the family home of the Earls of Mansfield and been in the Murray family for over 400 years. The Palace is rich in history and is today a top visitor attraction in the region. William Murray, Lord Stormont, took the time to speak to the Scottish Banner on its incredible past, some of the gems found both inside and outside the Palace and just why he loves Perthshire.
Scone Palace has a fascinating past as the ancient crowning place of Scottish kings and has hosted some huge names in Scottish history. Can you tell us briefly about some of the history of Scone Palace?
There is the history of Scone Palace and also the history of Scone as a place. Scone as a place has been of significance in Scotland from at least 843 when the first King of Scots, Kenneth MacAlpine, came to Scone and was inaugurated as first King of Scots here. He chose Scone as his Westminster, as his seat of power, and used it for ruling and administering the emerging Scottish Kingdom. Scone is also the first site of a recorded parliament in Scottish history, so it was a coronation site, a site of Parliament and a religious destination, because there was a monastery, and later an Abbey, which were in the grounds here.
Our family came along after the Reformation in 1600. So, we have been here for 400 years as the stewards of Scone and quite a lot has happened in that period as well. Including the rise and fall of the Jacobites, who were heavily associated with the emergence of the Hanoverian state which we managed to transition to support fully. And I think I would say peak Scone was 1842 when Queen Victoria came to visit on her Jubilee tour on her state visit, and that is when our family was really in its pomp, and where Scone was really humming as a place.
The Palace is not only rich in history but houses some incredible objects. What can visitors to the Palace expect to see?
There are extensive and beautiful collections of various things, and it is quite broad, so that makes it so interesting. There are ceramics, ivories, there are wonderful papier mâché vases which are extremely special. Obviously, furniture of all shapes and kinds, some of which was given to us by famous people like Marie Antoinette, there is also a very nice collection of clocks and ceramics.
But beyond that, there is also some other things like the Moot Hill itself, though not part of our collection, but definitely a physical item of great significance at Scone. The Moot Hill is where the coronations of Scottish kings took place. Macbeth, Robert the Bruce, David the 1st, all the big names of Scottish history are all crowned here, on the Moot Hill. And anyone who comes here can witness that and be part of that tradition. They can go up onto the Moot Hill with its fantastic folklore. The name is also referred to as the Boot Hill, which relates to the soil that was essentially collected there. Soil having been brought in on the boots of all Scots who are coming to witness ceremonies at Scone, and having that soil pour into a mound, the same mound on which the King of Scots would stand to make his vows to the Scottish people. Meaning that that mound quite literally represents all of Scotland. So, I cannot speak about the collection without talking about the Moot Hill as it is such a special place.
Scone boasts 100 acres of woodlands and gardens to enjoy, can you tell us about the magical outdoor space Scone Gardens has to offer?
Most of the outdoor space was designed and laid out at the same time as the palace was refabricated, rather than built, in 1800. It was designed by JC Loudon who was a very famous landscape designer.
Trees are very important to us at Scone, we have some ancient old trees. We have trees in the garden that were planted by recent royalty, current royalty and some more ancient royalties. The oldest tree planted here was by James the 5th of Scotland, which makes it about 500 years old. One of the newer highlights is the newly opened walled garden, which for various reasons was in a very bad state of disrepair until recently, primarily because of the 1st and 2nd World Wars as it was turned over for making potatoes rather than beautiful flowers and plants. So essentially it had to be entirely recreated since then and our gardening team has done a fantastic job and it’s still an ongoing project, which I think makes it quite fun for our visitors, especially returning visitors, because every time they come back they can see the next stage of the evolution.
My favourite thing in the gardens is the pinetum, the legacy of David Douglas son of Scone, who became a highly lauded botanist, and he was the one that put a name to a lot of plants in North America, including the famous Douglas Fir. Indeed, the first Douglas Fir to be planted successfully from a seed outside of North America is in the garden here. People quite literally come on pilgrimage just to visit that one tree, it is like we have a celebrity tree in the garden.
Interestingly guests to Scone Palace once had to be given a door handle to be able to access the rooms of the Palace, can you tell us about any of your favourite fascinating bits of history about the property people may not know about?
I definitely think the door handles is up there because it’s just so quaint and wonderful. I just love the idea of going to stay in the hotel where you are not given a room key, you are given a door handle, and you must wander around with that in your pocket. Another thing like that, which is quite fun is we have a loo which is called the poodle loo. My great grandmother was obsessed with dogs and the wallpaper has poodles on it. And it was not just the wallpaper, there are teddy bears, little China models, books, cards the whole thing is poodles. It is bonkers, but I think it speaks to our family and these places have to be family homes as well as museums.
People can stay at Scone Palace, can you tell us more?
Yes, not only can you do self-guided tours, but we have also got accommodation within the Palace as well. We have five-star self-catering accommodation for those who would like to come and visit, and I can personally attest to how wonderful that accommodation is because that’s where I stayed during the first lockdown with my then fiancé. During Covid we isolated ourselves in the Balvaird Wing, which is the most comfortable place to stay in the Palace. So, you can really enhance your trip and come and stay in the Palace, which is something pretty special.
Scone Palace has been in your family for over 400 years. The upkeep of this property must be quite a challenge. How do you manage to balance the property as both an important part of Scotland’s heritage but also as a modern-day business enterprise?
It is very challenging and there’s no shying away from that and you have to approach things now as a business, I think you could get away with not doing that 50 years ago, but now you really need to approach things as a commercial concern and it is greatly challenging.
We are trying to interact more with the local community here. That will be a big sea change that will happen in the coming years for us, because currently we are a pay to play venue. And we are going to be redeveloping our stable block to mean that you don’t have to pay to play, you will be able to visit the stable block and have a nice coffee and a bite to eat, and look at the various shops there without paying to enter the grounds and to enjoy the historic side of it. So, there is a big change on the way there for us, which is very exciting, although a little bit daunting. But again, this speaks to that challenge of everything is about making our business sustainable and our family being at Scone for the future. Whatever we can do to achieve that, we will.
Scone Palace not only offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in Scottish history and stunning gardens, but the Palace also offers a fantastic array of events held on the grounds for people to enjoy. Can you tell us about some the events you host and why it is so important for a historic property to offer these diverse range of events for the public?
Yes, there is lots happening here at Scone year-round. We have events such as Paws at the Palace which is our dog specific event. Our family follows in the steps of my great grandmother and loves dogs. We had over 1,000 dogs last year, which is a lot of dogs to have on the lawn.
And there are other events, for example we just had the Garden Fair, which is like the Chelsea Flower Show of Scotland. Which is in its third year and extremely popular already and on its way to being an established gardening event. Next up for us is The GWCT Scottish Game Fair, which is a celebration of the Scottish outdoors.
Otherwise, there is nearly always something happening, an event of some sort, or works of some sort. We have Christmas tours where we do up the palace to look particularly Christmasy and that is pretty magical. We really are quite incredibly busy and there are always things going on. We do not really have a quiet time, the only time it is a bit quieter is January, the team here roll their sleeves up as we do not really have a down month. We keep busy here making ends meet and these types of events help us to maximise profits to keep things running.
And finally, Perthshire is full of incredible outdoor spaces and is known as “Big Tree Country”. Can you tell us any parts of Perthshire that you love to visit and why?
That is a very good question, I would say it is one of the walking routes in the area. We are blessed where we are. We are an hour from Edinburgh and all the city life, and we are also less than an hour from some very wild areas. So, we can access a lot of different things very easily. Whether it is nice hiking routes, walking routes, kayaking and things like that. That is all very easily done from here, so I cherish that element of where we live.
Perth has everything that you need for a visit to Scotland. It is within striking distance of whatever you want, if it is castles we can do that, if it’s whisky we can do that very well and if it’s hiking, bicycling, or golf, everything is on the menu here. It is also a great base for day trips such as St Andrews or Edinburgh, so in terms of a hub and spoke visit strategy Perth is perfect.
Scone Palace is located one mile from Perth city centre. For details see: www.scone-palace.co.uk.
All images courtesy of Scone Palace & © ZACandZAC.