Antoninus Pius,The Stone of Destiny & gammy leg walker

[gammy leg walker]

OK I hear you all say how can there be a link from Antoninus Pius to The Stone of Destiny to gammy leg walker,well it all started for me anyway on July 1975 when a fresh faced kid out of high school started his engineering apprenticeship with a small firm called Rollo Industries based at St Andrews Works,High Bonnybridge,mmm not much difference to 1000s of kids around this time,all leaving school all looking for work,however the owner of Rollo Industries was a man called John Rollo,nothing unsual in that I hear you say,well read on.

On Christmas morning 1950 6 Scottish Nationalists,Kay Mathieson,Gavin Vernon,Ian Hamilton,Alan Stewart,Bill Craig and Jonny Josselyn removed The Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey and eventualy at 2.30pm on Hogmany crossed the border back to Scotland with the stone hidden in the boot of their car,ariving in Glasgow sometime later,next problem what do they do with the stone,enter my one time boss John Rollo who agreed to hide the stone on one condition that he,and he alone would know where it was hidden.For the best part of the next 13 weeks it was hidden at St Andrews Works,in a secret compartment under the foremans office,behind a sliding wooden panel concealed by a huge lathe.It lay here until it was agreed to be returned,this happened on the 11th of April 1951 when wrapped in a Scottish Saltire it was taken to Arbroath Abbey,where it was found the next day.Here ends glw link to the Stone of Destiny,where then does Antoninus Pius come in,read on.

Antoninus Pius 138AD to 161AD,it was he who ordered the building of The Antonine Wall in 142AD it took 12 years to build,but was only occupied for no more than 20 years,the wall runs from from Old Kirkpatrick in the west to Bo"ness in the east a distance of 63km,part of the wall runs through High Bonnybridge within site of St Andrews Work,yep the same work where for 14 years I learned my engineering trade,and where The Stone of Destiny was hidden all these years ago.But wheres the link,well for more years than I care to remember I have walked this section of the wall with my curent dogs,and the dogs before them,here endeth the history lesson,now some piccies.

Stone was hidden here

Rollo Industries

Start of the Antonine Wall

Information Plaque

Looking east along the wall

Ben Vorlich & Stuc"a"Chroin

Icy morning

Ochil Hills

Easy walking above & south of the wall

Falkirk Wheel & The Ochils

Falkirk Wheel

Upper basin,wheel & Ochils behind

Our "aussie" cousins have been here

Lower basin & wheel

Ochils behind with lower basin & wheeel

Our"irish" cousins have been here

Looking west along the wall

Looking east along the wall

East along the ditch

West on the top

East on the top

Bottom of the ditch looking east

Bottom of ditch looking west

On the wall looking east

On the wal looking west

[jonny616]

Fresh faced & pius. Who are you sitting& what have you done with my mate GLW.

Great day for a stroll. I wasnt too far off when i asked if you were sitting on it.

[Mountainlove]

Lovely report thank you for sharing a bit of history...I really enjoyed it and the photos

[tomyboy73]

cool story Gammy, and some nice pictures , i always wondered if the ditch was from the foundations of the wall, but now i see that it`s not

[ChrisW]

Cracking read Gammy and wonderful pictures of a fine wander as well as some spectacular engineering in the Falkirk Wheel - love it

[pollyh33]

Absolutely brilliant Wullie

Missing you hunners XXXX

[morag1]

Great report gammy, fancy your boss being involved in hiding the Stone of Destiny,he must have been a bit of a character

Also really enjoyed hearing about Antonius Pius and seeing the photos of the wall. By a strange coincidence I have just finished a TR about walking the canal path to the Falkirk Wheel!! Mines finishes where yours starts so I will try to post it soon and the two walks and photos can be linked together

[McLEOD]

aye interesting, enjoyed that wee read

[Caberfeidh]

Interesting stuff... Co-incidentally I was in a pub in Glasgow's trendy West End recently, the Arlington bar, where there is a copy of the original stone, complete with handles on chains. I was chatting to the manager, who told me that of all copies of the stone, only two have a corner chipped off (this happened when it was "liberated" from the throne in 1950). The other chipped stone is the one now in Edinburgh , the official "real" stone. Or is it....?
Many years ago two boys were messing about in the hills near Scone. A landslip had opened up a cavity in the hillside, downhill from the site of an old fort. The boys climbed inside, hoping for old swords, chests of treasure etc., but all they found was a wee white stone tablet, with short legs and inscribed with strange symbols. Disappointed at the lack of treasure, they left, leaving the strange white stone. Years later, in adulthood, one of them thought back on it and realised it was Egyptian hieroglyphics carved on white marble, fashioned into a short stool or some such object. " Legend says that the Stone of Destiny was used as a pillow by Jacob in biblical times. It was believed to have been brought to Scotland in the 9th century." A stone the size of the official stone could not be used as a pillow, but a small, fashioned marble stool could. Also legend has it that Longshanks (King Edward I ) was really given the cover for the cesspit !

[rockhopper]

Good to see you're getting out and about gammy - how's the leg coming on ? This takes me back to days wandering around Bonnybridge - my grandfather worked in the foundry at the canal bank (Smith and Wellstood) from where it was a short walk to my grandparents' house on the iother side of the canal - cheers

[Graeme D]

Fantastic stuff Gammy. I hope it's not too long before you're back out on the high stuff!

[Alan S]

Good to see you getting back out mate
After reading this report I have learned 2 things about you that I didnt know.
1. You never told me about the stone of destiny story.
2. Up to now the only thing I thought you ever learned about the romans was this....

Bwyan

[Bod]

A cracking read and a fascinating tale gammy

[ScottishLeaf]

Good to see you out and about again Gammy.
Cracking wee read about my home turf, enjoyed that.
The question is, did you see the wheel move???
Nobody from Falkirk has seen it move!!! lol

My auld man used to work just down the road from Rollo's in the Broomside Foundry, known as The Puzzle. I used to walk a bit of this route to go up and meet him then go for a fly pint in The Brig Inn before coming home!

[gammy leg walker]

Fresh faced & pius. Who are you sitting& what have you done with my mate GLW.

Great day for a stroll. I wasnt too far off when i asked if you were sitting on it.

Dinnae worry mate,still here.