FOR 20 years, Scottish historians have been searching high and low for a lost 18th Century stone which played its part in events that changed the course of British history.

The Glenfinnan Stone mysteriously disappeared from its home near the Glenfinnan Monument on the shores of Lock Shiel in 1989.

The stone, which was used by Bonnie Prince Charlie to mark the start of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745, has now turned up – on a rockery in Hartlepool.

Connie Lofthouse recognised the stone after seeing the story of its disappearance on the BBC’s Countryfile programme.

She had been given the stone, which measures more than 12 inches in diameter, as a present while living in Scotland.

“We didn’t know what it was or what it meant to Scotland,”

said Mrs Lofthouse. “I honestly thought it was just a stone.

“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw it on the TV. I knew straight away it was my stone, but none of my family believed me at first. It’s incredible to think this big part of history has been sat in a garden all this time.”

Prince Charlie secured a 16ft staff in the stone and unfurled his white standard to mark the start of the bloody uprising, which ended in the battle of Culloden, in Inverness.

Mrs Lofthouse, a 79-year-old retired schoolteacher, was given it in 1990 when she retired with her husband to Kentallen, near Appin, in Scotland, and brought it with her when they returned to England two years ago.

The couple moved to Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and she gave the stone to her son to keep in his garden in Marine Crescent, Hartlepool.

Mrs Lofthouse contacted the BBC after seeing Countryfile and the stone has now been returned to Scotland.

Iain Thornber, Scottish historian and fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Scotland, collected the stone and has put it in the West Highland Museum, in Fort William.