The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-09-09
The Crown of Scotland.

1he ancient crown OF SCOTLAND, now III
the Castle of Edinburgh, has bad adven-
lures not unlike some of those of the
Hungarian diadem. 1t is supposed to
have been made for King Robert Bruce,
and is formed of two circles of gold, the
upper one being surmounted by Il row of
crosses and fcurs de lis, while the lower
and broader ring is adorned with precious
stones, in their rough, unpublished state.
From this, rise two arches of gold, which
unite in a ball and cross. Even when
the Stuarts became kings of England,
they came to Scotland after their Eng
lish coronation, to receive this crown at
Scone. Charles l, indeed, wished to
have the crown and regaia of Scotland
sent up to London in order that the cere-
mony might take place there, but this
was regarded as an Infringement of the
rights of the kingdom, and he had to
come to Scotland, where he was crowned
June IS, 1888. When, after his fathers
death, Charles II asserted his rights in
Scotland, he was crowned at Scone on
January l, 1861.
On CromwelPs advancing across the
border, the crown and regalia were sent
away from Edinburgh to the strong castle
of Dunnottar, on the shores of the North
sea, lest they should fall into his hands.
They were placed under the protection
of picked garrison, commanded by the
Earl MarischaL and Ogilvy, of Barras, a
veteran soldier. Several guns were sent
to reinforce the other castle, among
others, Mons Meg, and the great embra-
sure, through which this monster was
fired, is still shown at Dunnottar. On
the Sd of January, 1852, the Cromwellian
General Lambert, having closely invested
the castle, summoned it to surrender.
The summons was rejected, and the siege
began. Ogilvy had previously asked
that ship might be sent TO carry off the
crown, sceptre and sword of state; but
Charles had not been able to comply
with his request. 1t soon became eyi-
dent that the castle could not hold out
long, and it was therefore necessary to
devise some plan for saving the regalia.
The chief agent in the plot was the wife
of Rev. James Granger, of Kinneff, a
small church four miles from Dunnottar.
She obtained from General Lambert per-
mission to pass through his lines, in order
to visit the lady of the castle, and, on her
return, secretly brought away the Scot
tish crown. Her maid followed her,
bearing two large bundles of lint, as if
for spinning, but in one Of them the
sword of state was hidden, and in the
other the sceptre. On reaching Kinnetf,
she gave them to her husband, and that
night they went into the church, raised
flag of the pavement in front of the
pulpit, dug hole, and buried there the
crown and the sccptre. In another part
of the church they hid the sword in the
same way.
When, on the fall of the castle, the re-
gala were found to be gone, great was
Lambcrt's Indignation. Tradition says
that he suspected the Grangers, and tor
turcd them in vain in order to eXtort
their secret. But suspicion was at length
lulled % rest by the report that the crown
had been sent abroad Occasionally the
minister and his wife went by night into
the church to change the cloths i'll which
the crown was wrapped, in order to pre-
serve from the damp, and at the Resto-
ration, they gave up the regalia in safety
to Charles II. y gram. of 1000 marks
rewarded Mrs. Granger fnr her faithful
service. After the union, vhcn on ac-
count of the strength of tia Jacobite
party, the English government very un-
wisely exhibited on many occasions the
mistrust with which they regarded the
sentiment of Scottish nationality, the
crown and regalia, as its most striking
cmblcms, were shut up in strong Golfer
in the crown room OF Edinburgh castle.
This toook place in 1907, and there they
remained for more than Il century, until
they were again restored to light by the
commission appointed for that purpose
in S.-Mam6cr's Journal.