SCONE

village, Perth and Kinross council area, historic county of Perthshire, Scotland. It lies near the River Tay just north of Perth. Old Scone was traditionally the capital of a Pictish kingdom, succeeding Forteviot in the 8th century. Kenneth MacAlpin, first king of the united Scots and Picts, is believed to have brought the Stone of Sconethe Stone of Destiny, on which all Scottish kings were crownedfrom Dunstaffnage Castle to Scone in the 9th century. Scone remained the normal place of the coronation of Scottish kings until the 15th century. Scone was also an early religious centre; a Culdee (Celtic) foundation there was superseded in 1120 by an Augustinian monastery until the latter was sacked and burned during the Reformation. Today a mansion called the Scone Palace (180308) occupies the site of the former monastery. The village of Old Scone was removed to allow a park to be laid out around the new palace, and the village of New Scone was built nearby. Pop. (1991) New Scone, 4,533. town, eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the upper Hunter River valley. Gazetted in 1837 as the village of Invermein, it was renamed for Scone, Scot., and was proclaimed a municipality in 1888. It lies along the New England Highway and the main northern rail line, 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Newcastle. Scone is a market centre for a district producing sheep, cattle, racehorses, walnuts, and vegetables. Scone is also the area headquarters of soil and water conservation authorities, and Glenbawn Dam and reservoir (and an associated national park) are nearby. A local curiosity is Mount Wingen, or Burning Mountain (1,800 feet ); a cleft in its side emits smoke from an underground coal seam that has been smoldering for centuries. Pop. (1981) 3,949.