· Discover the fascinating story of this enigmatic artifact - from bombings to thefts and abductions - as told by Britain’s leading expert on church archaeology

· Lavish colour illustrations and in depth investigation provide an unprecedented examination of one of the most remarkable relics of the British Monarchy

Constructed in 1297-1300 for King Edward I, the Coronation Chair ranks among the most remarkable and precious treasures to have survived from the Middle Ages. It incorporates in its seat a block of sandstone, seized by the king at Scone following his victory over the Scots in 1296. For centuries, Scottish kings had been inaugurated on this symbolic ‘Stone of Scone’, to which copious mythology had become attached. Edward presented the Chair to the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey and most English monarchs since the fourteenth century have been crowned on it, the last being HM Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.

Now somewhat battered with age, the Chair was once highly ornate, embellished with gilding, painting and coloured glass. Yet despite its profound historical significance, until now it has never been the subject of detailed archaeological recording. Moreover, the remaining fragile decoration was in need of urgent conservation, which was carried out in 2010-12 and accompanied by the first holistic study of the Chair and Stone.

The latest investigations have revealed and documented the complex history of the Chair: it has been modified on several occasions and the stone has been reshaped and much altered since it left Scone. This volume assembles, for the first time, the complementary evidence derived from history, archaeology and conservation, and presents a factual account of the Coronation Chair and the Stone of Scone, not as separate artefacts but as the entity that they have been for seven centuries. Their combined significance to the British Monarchy and State – and to the history and archaeology of the English and Scottish nations – is greater than the sum of their parts.

Professor Warwick Rodwell is Consultant Archaeologist to Westminster Abbey and Visiting Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has published extensively throughout his career and is the author of The Archaeology of the English Church, considered to be the standard textbook on church archaeology. He has studied a number of ecclesiastical buildings including Westminster Abbey, Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury