Coronation Road was the route used by the MacDuffs, Thanes (later Earls) of Fife, to journey to Scone for the coronations of the kings of Scotland.  The MacDuff family lived in Falkland Castle, later Palace, and it was their hereditary duty through the centuries to crown the Scottish kings, seated on the Stone of Destiny at Scone near Perth.  Scottish kings were crowned at Scone from 843 to 1406, being enthroned on the Stone of Destiny until 1293 after which (in 1296) Edward I of England captured the stone and took it to Westminster.

Below is an atempt to describe the route of the Road and tell some of the tales associated with it.  The photographs are all genuine and unretouched, some of the stories may be - I haven't a clue. If you wish to visit any of the points on the Road (you can't follow the route exactly unless you have a boat) I suggest you stay in Perth or you might fancy a country house hotel such as Murrayshall which has its own golf course.  Contact Perthshire Tourist Board for details.  If you have any stories about the Road perhaps you would contact me and they could be added to the site.  See the bottom of page 8 for links.

 Photograph 1 shows the entrance to Falkland Palace, taken from the market cross in Falkland village.

Photograph 2 is a close up of the palace gates (the East Port).

Turning your back on the palace gates East Lomond Hill is seen to dominate the village of Falkland.  Natural markers such as this are common on ancient trackways and would have served as a sighting point for travellers (literally, a land-mark).  Coronation Road heads out on a bearing of magnetic north on the B936 road, a straight stretch of road to Dunshelt, passing Falklandwood Farm (see photograph 4).

4.  East Lomond from the B936 at Falklandwood Farm road-end.

Looking south from Falklandwood Farm, East Lomond Hill is seen as an imposing back-marker on Coronation Road.  At Dunshelt the road turns east to Auchtermuchty.

Photograph 5 shows the centre of Auchtermuchty with the Royal Hotel  prominent.  The hotel was formerly a farm house and the Barn Shop nearby emphasises this. King James I stayed at the hotel in the winter of 1406.  He was returning from his coronation at Scone and had been caught in a sudden snow-storm and was bound to stay the night at the inn.  He was served with ' lam-bones  (presumably rack of lamb) and spinayche ' which he apparently enjoyed immensely.

His followers grew boisterous due to the large quantities of ale they drank, there being little else to do on a snowy night.  There were a few playful scuffles, with none of the men able to land an effective blow on each other because they were so drunk.  They spilled out into the cold night and began to pelt each other with snowballs. But then the king came out also and a snowball hit him in the face by accident. At first the king laughed and made a snowball himself.  He asked who had thrown one at him and when the unfortunate courtier was pointed out he threw the snowball at him.  It hit him in the face and the other courtiers laughed as he tried to clear the snow from his eyes.  But then he fell to the ground and the snow stained red with blood as he held his front in a dying agony.  Then the king stepped back, wiped his dagger on his fallen servant, returning it to its sheath as he went back inside the inn.

The dead courtier was Colm McPherson.  His friends dressed his body in his armour and carried it into a nearby wood to be buried.  A copper beech tree was planted at the head of the grave and when it grew tall its leaves stood out as a blood-red mass amongst the green foliage of the other trees. If you look in Colin's Wood you may find the copper beech still standing. If it has been cut down you may still be able to locate Colm's grave at the heart of the wood if you obtain the land-owner's permission to use a metal detector.

Although it ended in a despicable act by the king, the fact that he had stayed at the inn was cited by its owner in his application for leave to use the 'Royal' prefix.

The long straight stretch of road which is the B936 between Falkland and Auchtermuchty is almost certainly the line of an ancient track whose southern extremity is inidicated by the dominating East Lomond Hill.  From Auchtermuchty it is not clear whether Coronation Road turns west on to the A91 or turned west at Dunshalt, where there is an earthwork (mistakenly identified in some manuscripts as the grave of Colm MacPherson), and thence on through Reedieleys Farm (whose name indicates an ancient trackway).  If the latter is correct, only fragments of the track remain.  It seems clear however that the Road went next through Strathmiglo and then turned northwards through Abernethy Glen.  This part of the route is very scenic but needs more research to find better evidence of the route.  Just south of Abernethy dense modern conifer forest obliterates all road-side features making it impossible to find route markers, both natural and artefact.