IRISH ANTIQUITIES

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11408, 3 January 1923, Page 2

IRISH ANTIQUITIES

. THERE. RETURN DESIRED. THE STONE OF- DESTINY. Among many antiques now in England which Irishmen say should ba restored to Ireland by virtue of her new status is the “Stone of Destroy ’ m Westminster Abbey, upon which every English. King sinoe Edward I. was crowned. While Irish _ antiquarians are not unanimous on this point, one school holds that this atone is the original ‘‘lsa Fail" from the hill of Tara, the ancient seat of the Irish kings. . . According to one English tradition the stone was carried V> Ireland f roan Bethel Jaa “JafcoVa upon which Jacob slept when he dreamed. In Ireland it became the pillow of St. Oolnmba, of Iona; was removed to Scone, Scotland, by Kenneth 11. in the ninth century, and then to ; Westminster .by Edward I. , ' •Some antiquarians dispute this, however, alleging that: the stone was brohght to Ireland by Tuathe do Da.nann colony from Germany, and subsequently placed upon the hilt of Tara. The stone was supposed to have supernatural powers, making a creaking noise when a legitimate king was being crowned, but maintaining a stony silence when a usurper sat upon it. The Irish high kings, who sat upon it during the THathe do Danann colony, came to Ireland about 1896 8.C.; and the stone, according to this legend, remained till the fifth century A.D., and when Fergus Macero, then the high king, left "Tara on a conquering expedition he hore the stone away to Soone for his coronation. Edward is said to have taken it away in the thirteenth century, A Scottish tradition spun around this stone has it that; “If the fates go right, where this stone is found, Tb'> Soots shall monarchs of that realm be crowned.” Which prophecy is supposed to have been fulfilled when James VI. of Scotland became James' I. of England. There are Irishmen, however, who say that the real Lia Fail sfill reposes on the hill of Tara, and that the most reliable Irish annals give no hint that it ever VM removed. The stone which these persons assert is the original now' crowns the great central mound of the hill of Tara,' where some 400 men were killea by English troops in the revolt of 1798. ' The old Irish hards gave their native land the poetic name of “Innisfail,” incorporating the name of tho historic rock. One ancient verse runs:— “From this strange stone did InnisfaiJ obtain Its name; a tract surrounded by the main.”